The Skeletons in Teddy Lupin's Closet
by nymphxdora
Summary: After an eventful first year, Teddy Lupin is looking forward to spending what he hopes will be a nice, normal second year at Hogwarts with his friends- including Victoire, who will be starting at the school. But when an old foe reappears, a mysterious mark is discovered, and long-hidden secrets threaten to come out of the closet, Teddy realises that he's in for quite the adventure.
1. Chapter 1: Smoke (Chain)

**The Skeletons in Teddy Lupin's Closet**

 **A/N:** Welcome to Teddy's second year at Hogwarts! _The Skeletons in Teddy Lupin's Closet_ is a sequel to _The Escapades of Teddy Lupin_ , and references characters and events introduced in the latter. While the story may be able to stand up on it's own, I recommend you to read TEoTL first.

 _ **Awards:** The Escapades of Teddy Lupin_ **won** the 2014 Hallows Award in Best Multichapter, Best Next-Generation Era & Best OC for Alfie Hayes, and was also **nominated** in the Best OC category for Ella Anderson. It has also been **nominated** for the Best Fanon Multichapter and Best OC (Alfie Hayes) in the 2015 Fan-Picked Fanfiction Awards.

* * *

 **Chapter One: Smoke (Chain)**

Teddy Lupin had never liked travelling by the Floo network. It was jerky and nauseating, and Side-Along Apparation was far more convenient. But today, he was willing to make an exception.

As he stumbled out of the fireplace at Diagon Alley, he dusted himself off and looked eagerly around. The Alley was bustling, as it always was at this time of the year. Hogwarts letters had arrived a week earlier and the street was filled with young witches and wizards buying books, equipment and supplies that they would need for a new year at school. Teddy was to be starting his second year at Hogwarts, and while he'd bought most of his school things last year, there were still a few textbooks and Potions supplies that he needed to pick up.

And yet, it wasn't the shopping that he was most excited for. Today, he was to be meeting his best friends from Hogwarts, Ella Anderson and Alfie Hayes, in the Alley, and after doing their shopping together, they would be coming to stay with Teddy and his grandmother at their little cottage in Godric's Hollow. His childhood best friend, Victoire Weasley, who was to be starting at Hogwarts this year, would also be coming.

His grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, stepped out of the fireplace. She was wearing fine black robes that—somehow—weren't covered in soot. She stood up and brushed herself off, looking completely unfazed by the wild journey. "Now, where did you say we were meeting your friends, Teddy?"

"By the ice cream parlour," Teddy replied.

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour wasn't too far away, but Teddy practically ran towards it, only stopping when his grandmother reprimanded him by saying that he was leaving her too far behind. He couldn't wait to see his friends—he'd kept in steady contact with them throughout the summer, sending letters via Gran's owl, Amaryllis, and Ella's owl, Athena. But it had been months since he'd seen them in person.

He was terribly disappointed, then, when although the parlour was bustling with activity, his friends were nowhere in sight.

"Fleur did say that she'd be a little late with Victoire," his grandmother tried to reassure him. "And I'm sure Ella and Alfie will be here soon."

"Yeah," Teddy said, although his excitement was completely dashed.

He glanced around the nearby shops, trying to see if he'd missed them, or if they were hiding from him. The doorbell of Quality Quidditch Supplies jangled slightly as the door opened and a family, a mother, father and a twelve-year old boy, walked out, carrying a small trunk behind them. The boy had light brown hair, bright green eyes, and was dressed in Muggle clothing. Teddy recognized him instantly.

"Alfie!" he yelled, waving frantically.

Alfie spotted Teddy and his entire face lit up. The two boys ran towards each other and hugged, talking over each other in excitement.

"It's so good to see you!"

"How've you been?"

"I can't believe it's been so long!"

"Have you grown?"

"Ahem." Alfie's father, a large man in a suit, cleared his throat. Alfie's mother, a smaller, yet kind-faced woman, stood next to him. Teddy looked up at Mr. Hayes and smiled.

"Good morning, Professor, ma'am. I hope you're well." Alfie was a Muggleborn, the son of an Oxford professor and a housewife. He'd met Teddy at Flourish and Blotts the previous year, and after they'd both been Sorted into Hufflepuff, they had become fast friends.

Alfie greeted Teddy's grandmother and then the two boys left the adults to chat amongst themselves while they waited for Ella and Victoire. Alfie's parents, as it turned out, were to accompany them on their shopping trip. "They didn't trust me alone with that much money," Alfie grumbled. "They thought I'd spend it all on Quidditch supplies."

"Are you thinking of trying out for the team this year?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah, why not? I mean, I doubt they'd take me, but it'd be pretty great to be in the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team."

"It would," Teddy agreed.

"So, where are the girls?" Alfie asked, glancing around.

"Vic's going to be a bit late," Teddy said. "Ella should be here soon, I guess."

"Do you think she'll bring her parents too?" Ella's parents were a great source of mystery to Teddy and Alfie. They were fashion designers who ran a very successful Muggle clothing brand, but Teddy and Alfie had never met them; Ella had always been picked up from King's Cross Station by her chauffeur. They didn't even know whether they were Muggles or Wizards; Teddy figured that Ella was a half-blood, but he couldn't be sure.

"I have no idea," Teddy said thoughtfully. "I wonder where she is."

As if on cue, a voice called out to them from a few metres away. "Teddy! Alfie!"

A petite girl with black hair, huge brown eyes and creamy brown skin was running towards them, waving. She was wearing new glasses, a Ravenclaw scarf, and was carrying a fairly large black handbag. A taller, Indian man was following her: his beard was greying and he was wearing a suit. Teddy wondered whether he was Ella's father—her ethnicity was, after all, partly Indian.

"Ella!" Alfie exclaimed. She had reached them before they could run towards her, and she enveloped them in a massive hug.

"I'm sorry I'm so late!" she said. "I had to stop at Gringotts first—my parents don't let me withdraw from my bank account by myself. Rajiv _bhaiya*_ had to help me."

"Rajiv bai-ya?" Alfie said, his eyebrows crinkling as he looked up at the tall, Indian man. "I thought he was your father!"

Ella laughed. "No, silly, my dad's from London. Rajiv _bhaiya_ is my butler, of sorts."

The man inclined his head. "Pleased to meet you." He had a slight Indian accent. "I have heard much about you from little _Pari_ – Ella—all good things, of course."

The boys greeted him and Ella went bright red. She greeted Alfie's parents and Teddy's grandmother, who received both her and her butler with great interest.

"Will you be coming shopping with us as well?" Teddy's grandmother asked Rajiv _bhaiya_. "You're more than welcome to."

"Unfortunately not," he replied. "Thank you for the invitation, but I was only to bring _Pari_ and help her withdraw the money. I shall take my leave, now."

Teddy turned to Ella and whispered, "I didn't know you had a butler."

She shrugged. "He's been with my family since before I was born."

"I thought your parents were going to come with you."

"They were busy," she mumbled, bristling slightly. "Plus, I'm more than capable of doing my own shopping. They were only worried that I'd spend too much money on books. They don't _need_ to worry though—the Hogwarts library has everything that I could possibly want."

"Yeah, as long as you don't go into the Restricted Section," Alfie teased, coming up to the trio. He lowered his voice slightly. "I hope nothing like what happened last year happens again."

"Yeah, you and me both," said Teddy quickly. The previous year, the three of them had managed to get tricked by a seventh-year student, Ralph Lewis, and his friends into stealing a book from the Restricted Section. Although Ralph had claimed that the book was completely innocent, they'd soon found that it contained dark magic and had managed to take it back. Ralph found out and ended up attacking Teddy, landing him in the hospital wing. Teddy still hadn't told anyone but Alfie and Ella that it had been Ralph; he had threatened to hurt all three of them if Teddy spilled the truth to anyone.

"Have you told any—"

"No," Teddy cut him off quickly. Ralph and two of his friends had graduated the previous year, leaving only Andrew Averdeen, a current seventh-year behind. Even though they were long gone, they were still a sore subject for Teddy. He couldn't help but feel guilty about what he'd done; his parents had died fighting to stop dark magic, and yet he'd subverted their cause. Ralph had wanted to revive the blood purity movement, and he'd helped him.

He suddenly remembered seeing Ralph at Platform Nine and Three Quarters at the end of the school year. He'd been carrying around papers with variations of the word ' _Morsmordre_ ' sticking out of his bag. Teddy hadn't told anyone; he still didn't know what exactly the word meant, but he was sure that it couldn't have been anything good.

"I'd really rather not talk about him," Teddy said, forcing a smile. "We're going to have an amazing year at Hogwarts, and nothing's going to spoil that."

"And you're going to have an amazing year at Hogwarts because this time, _I'll_ be there!"

"Victoire!" Teddy exclaimed, hugging the blonde eleven-year-old who had just arrived beside them.

"Hiya, Teddy," Victoire said, grinning. "Hi Alfie, hi Ella."

The other two waved at Victoire. They didn't really know her very well; they'd only met her a few times at King's Cross Station, but Teddy just _knew_ that they were all going to get on splendidly. After all, they were all his best friends, and now, they were all going to be at Hogwarts together.

He couldn't _wait_ for the new year to begin.

.oOo.

"Books, check, potion supplies, check," his grandmother said, her eyes scanning the piece of parchment in front of her. "I think we have nearly everything."

"It sure _feels_ like we've got everything," Alfie groaned. He was struggling carrying a large, heavy Flourish and Blotts bag, and despite Gran's frequent offers to put a Lightweight Charm on the bag, as she had done with all their other bags and luggage, he had steadfastly refused. Ella had rolled her eyes and muttered something about boys and their apparent need to prove that they were strong.

"Just Victoire's wand eez left," Aunty Fleur said, pushing some of her elegant blonde locks out of her face. "Wand-buying eez always ze best." She flashed a smile at Alfie's parents. "Eet is so wonderful to see a wand choose ze wizard—or witch, in _ma cherie_ 's case. Do you 'ave something similar in your Muggle world?"

"Er, not exactly," Mrs. Hayes replied. Teddy thought she looked rather intimidated by his aunt Fleur.

"Zat is a pity," Fleur said, although she didn't seem very pitiful to Teddy.

"I can't believe I'm getting my _wand_ ," Victoire practically squealed. "What do you think I'll get?"

"Something that's right for you," Ella said, matter-of-factly. "The wand always chooses correctly—there's an entire _science_ devoted to it, you know."

"I want a unicorn hair wand," Victoire said, pushing the heavy, wooden door to _Ollivander's_ open. "Unicorns are so pretty and the wands are so lovely, too!"

"That they are," a voice came from behind the stacks, causing Victoire to almost jump out of her skin. "Unicorn hair makes very loyal wands." An old man on a ladder appeared. His face was worn and crinkled, and yet he still had a very kind smile. "You must be Miss Weasley."

"That's right." Victoire puffed her chest up. "I'm here for a wand." Aunty Fleur shot her a look, and she quickly added, "Please. Sir."

"I can't imagine what else you'd be here _for_ ," Mr. Ollivander chuckled. He averted his eyes from Victoire for a minute and nodded to the rest. "Mrs. Tonks and, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, am I correct?" Alfie's parents nodded, looking startled that they'd remembered them. "And of course, Edward, Alfred and Ella. I hope your wands are serving you well."

They all nodded. "Yes, sir," Ella said, answering for all three of them. "We're very pleased with our wands."

"Excellent!" Mr. Ollivander turned back to Victoire. "Now, what can we get you?"

Victoire opened her mouth, as if to suggest a unicorn hair wand, but Mr. Ollivander beat her to the chase. "Gervaise!"

A man who looked to be in his twenties appeared from around the corner. He had the same facial structure as Mr. Ollivander and the same kind eyes, but his nose and mouth were very different. "Yes, Grandfather?"

"Get me a selection of wands, the seven-inch unicorn hair and birch, the eleven-inch phoenix feather and the nine-inch dragon heartstring."

The man nodded. "Yes, Grandfather." He disappeared for a few seconds and then came back, carrying three oblong boxes. Mr. Ollivander smiled at him.

"My grandson," he explained. "Teaching him the trade while I still can. Now, let's see—try this one first, Miss Weasley. Give it a wave."

He opened the box containing the wand made of unicorn hair and held it out to Victoire, who eagerly grabbed it and waved it at the wall behind Mr. Ollivander. There was a loud crash as several jars from the shelf clattered to the floor. Victoire winced. "Sorry."

"No matter, no matter." Mr. Ollivander waved his wand. "It appears that the unicorn hair is not for you, after all. Try this one."

He held out another wand to Victoire. She took it, although a lot less enthusiastically, and waved it. Teddy could tell that she was trying to be delicate, lest she break anything again, although he knew that it wasn't really her fault. He, too, had broken a glass when he had been buying his wand. He actually had a unicorn hair wand, although it was locked up in his gran's safe at home. She hadn't wanted to risk him getting caught performing underage magic.

But Victoire didn't, in fact, break anything. Instead, the wand began to glow, and she exclaimed, "I feel warm! It's like I'm glowing, too!"

Mr. Ollivander smiled. "Nine-inch fir with a dragon heartstring core. That wand has been on our shelves for a long time, Miss Weasley. It's been waiting for you."

"Really?" Victoire beamed, the disappointment of the unicorn hair long forgotten. "I'm glad I found it, then!"

Teddy, Alfie and Ella looked at each other and smiled, each remembering the joy of getting their own wands at Ollivander's a year earlier.

"Victoire, say thank you to Mr. Ollivander," Fleur told her.

Victoire blushed. "Thank you, Mr. Ollivander."

"Do not thank me," Mr. Ollivander told her. "Thank the wand that chose you."

After they finished at Ollivander's, the party split up, with Alfie's parents leaving for Oxford. They turned down Gran Andromeda's invitations for dinner, saying that they really had to get back as Mr. Hayes had some important work to finish. Alfie bid his parents goodbye, although Teddy noticed a definite note of masked excitement in his voice as they left.

"I can't help it," Alfie told Teddy. "I'm just really excited to get to stay with you!"

"So am I," Ella said. "You know, my parents almost didn't let me come until your gran wrote assuring them that I'd be sleeping in a different room." She rolled her eyes. " _Parents_."

Victoire seemed to be sharing Ella's sentiment; she was engaged in a loud argument with Aunt Fleur over her wand. Aunt Fleur refused to let her keep it with her while she was staying at Teddy's, saying that she was likely to either get in trouble by using it, or that she would lose it.

"But it chose _me_!" Victoire wailed. "Not you!"

" _Calmez-vous_ , Victoire!" Aunt Fleur snapped. "Do not make a fuzz in public!"

Eventually, Aunt Fleur won the argument, and Victoire's new wand was put away safely in her handbag, much to Victoire's chagrin.

His grandmother checked her list again. "Just one more thing—medicine for Teddy."

"I didn't know you were sick!" Alfie turned to Teddy in horror, slapping his palm onto his forehead. "You don't feel like you have fever."

"Because I don't," Teddy said, gingerly removing Alfie's hand. "Gran heard about this…" He lowered his voice. "…Lycanthropy expert, who's recently graduated from St. Mungo's Medical School. Apparently, he's invented a new medicine for people like me, you know, with the tendencies, that helps stop the full moon cravings. He has a shop in Knockturn Alley."

"Knockturn Alley?" Ella wrinkled her nose. "Aren't all the shops there really dodgy?"

"I've met this man," Gran reassured her. "He's not too far into the Alley—says he only has a shop there because he's starting out and the rent is cheaper."

"That it would be."

"My dad's tried his stuff," Victoire affirmed. "Says he's really good." Although it had taken Teddy ages to confess to Alfie and Ella that his father was a Werewolf, Victoire had no problem letting people know that her father had been bitten by one years ago.

"I 'ave to get some _feminine_ potions from my potioneer," Aunt Fleur said. "I shall go there while you pick up zis medicine."

"Yes, and you can take the other children with you," Gran suggested. "Knockturn is no place for them."

"I can take Victoire and Ella. But I am afraid zat Alfie will 'ave to go wiz you—boys are not allowed into zat shop."

"What kind of shop is that?" Alfie whispered to Teddy, who shrugged his shoulders, just as confused as Alfie was.

"It's a special shop just for girls," Victoire told Alfie. "Filled with pink, and soft fluffy toys and all sorts of other things that _we_ like."

"I don't mind soft, fluffy toys."

Victoire rolled her eyes. "It sells _girl_ stuff, Alfie. Things that you don't need."

"Alright," Gran proclaimed. "Victoire, Ella—you go with Mrs. Weasley. Alfie and Teddy, you two come with me."

"Why don't you just leave us outside Knockturn Alley?" Teddy suggested.

Gran laughed. "Not after what happened last year"

"What happened last year?" Alfie asked.

Teddy remembered vividly and to Alfie that he and Victoire had snuck into the Alley to see some of the shops. He left out the part whereby he'd gone in because he'd been jostled by a group of boys, and he'd seen them arguing with the proprietor of an old shop named Selwyn & Shafiq. He couldn't be sure after all this time, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the boys who he had seen that day had been none other than Ralph and his cronies.

They followed Teddy's grandmother in silence, listening as she instructed them on what to do. "Stay very close to me. Do _not_ look at anyone else, do not speak to anyone. If anyone speaks to you, do not reply, and if anyone grabs you, scream. We're not going very far in—we really should be in and out in a few seconds—but it's imperative that you stay safe."

"What does imperative mean, Mrs. Tonks?" Alfie asked.

"Very important."

The three walked through a narrow passageway. It was different from the one that Teddy had used last time, although it was just as dank and dirty. Crumpled up napkins and parchment littered the floor, and the plaster was peeling off the walls. The shops on the other side were no better: many had smashed windows, paint that was either peeling or faded or both, and doors that were practically swinging off their hinges. Barely anyone was around, a stark contrast to the ever-bustling Diagon Alley.

No wonder the rent was cheaper.

The store that they were going to was actually quite nice, though. The owner had done it up very well: the exterior was freshly painted, the door and windows recently replaced, and an engraved bronze sign hung over the entrance. It stood out like a sore thumb when compared to the sorry excuses of buildings next to it.

As Teddy glanced at the other shops, he noticed with a start that they were about to pass Selwyn & Shafiq. If it had looked miserable and broken down a year ago, it looked even worse now; the storefront was practically crumbling. The door was open and an old man was standing just inside the threshold. He didn't look like the man Teddy had seen last year; this one had darker skin and hair. He was, however, arguing with someone who was also standing just inside, but in a position where Teddy was unable to see him.

"It's mine!" Teddy could hear the other person yelling. "You've got to give me the shop now, it's all mine now that Mr. Shafiq has died. You have no right over any of its contents."

"Take it up with the Wizengamot," the older man snarled.

"What's going on in _there_?" Alfie whispered.

"Ignore it, boys," Gran said. "Little quarrels—happen all the time."

"If you don't let me upstairs, I'll report you to the Aurors!"

The older man scoffed and removed a long, black stick from his robes. _His wand_. He pointed it directly at where the other figure was standing. "You wouldn't dare. You won't be able to, you ungrateful brat."

The figure snorted. "I am not ungrateful. I am simply back for what was promised to me years ago. You cannot deprive me of this."

"You don't even own up to who you are, how can you receive this? It will _never_ be yours, not as long as we live." The wand was higher now, the man's grip more tense. Teddy was right by the door, and he tried to crane his neck to see the other figure without anyone—including his grandmother—noticing that he was looking.

The last words he heard were, "We'll see about that."

And then, the Alley filled with smoke. Thick, black smoke, the colour and texture of volcanic ash, rushed out of the door of the shop and into the open air. It burned Teddy's eyes, and he reflexively clamped them shut, grasping in the dark for Alfie and his grandmother.

"I've got you both," Gran yelled. The smoke made it sound like she was a mile away. "Keep holding on."

The smoke sucked the air from the Alley and for a few, horrendous seconds, Teddy felt like he couldn't breathe. But then, just as quickly as it had come, it cleared. The smoke dissipated, and Teddy opened his eyes to see the Alley just as it had been before his eyes had started to burn. Alfie still had his eyes clenched closed, so Teddy elbowed him and whispered, "It's okay."

"What was that, Gran?" he asked his grandmother, who had suddenly gone very pale.

"I think we should leave," she said in a slow, calculated voice that he had never heard from her. It was almost as if she was afraid, but she _couldn't_ be. His grandmother was never afraid, she was always strong, no matter what. She was staring at a spot near the shop, so he followed her gaze.

The two figures were gone and the wooden door of Selwyn & Shafiq was firmly closed. Etched in the wood, still smoking slightly, was a dark, burned imprint of a symbol unlike any Teddy had ever seen. A skull with a horrible, toothy grimace was emblazoned on the door, two crosses on its forehead and snakes coming out of its mouth. There were other animals behind the skull, although they looked dark and lifeless. An eagle, a lion and a badger.

Teddy vaguely recognized the symbol but he couldn't place it. All he knew was that when he looked at it, he was filled with a sense of dread. The symbol was slowly fading on the door and yet it remained vivid in his mind.

"We need to leave, now," his grandmother said, grabbing the two boys and practically dragging them out of the Alley.

"What was that, Gran?" Teddy asked again.

She remained silent, but Teddy knew that she knew exactly what the symbol meant. He wracked his brains, trying to think of where he'd seen it before, but he just couldn't remember; he knew that he'd seen a similar one once in a book about the War, but it wasn't the same one. There hadn't been the other animals, or the crosses—just the skull and the snake.

What did this all mean? Why had it appeared on a door on Knockturn Alley? And who had done it?

He realized, with a start, that Alfie had been very quiet as they had left the Alley. It didn't take them long to get back into Diagon, and when they were finally back and assimilated into the crowd, Teddy turned to him. He was very, very pale, almost deathly white, and when Teddy put an arm on his shoulder, he was cold and shivering slightly.

Gran, somehow, hadn't noticed; she was too busy looking at a nearby map to find out where the shop where Aunt Fleur had taken the girls was. Teddy took advantage of her distraction to whisper, "What happened?"

Alfie shakily met Teddy's eyes, his green eyes filled with fear. "I saw who cast the spell. Just before the smoke came, I saw."

"Who was it?" Teddy asked, although he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he already knew.

"Ralph," Alfie whispered. "It was Ralph."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading and continuing on Teddy's journey with me. From now on, this fic, not Escapades, will be updated regularly, so please make sure to follow it! Reviews are always welcome (:

* _bhaiya_ is the Hindi word for brother, and is used, in this case, to respectfully refer to servants.


	2. Chapter 2: Veil (Dam)

**Chapter Two: Veil (Dam)**

It had been hours since they had returned from Diagon Alley; the sun was now setting across the countryside, and the moon was faintly visible in the east. Teddy sat by the window, staring out of it, while Alfie and Ella were perched on his bed, watching him with faint curiosity and trepidation. Victoire was not present.

After Gran had found Aunt Fleur and explained what had happened to her, Victoire, much to her discontent, had been dragged off home. The adults had spoken in hushed whispers, but Teddy had gathered this much: they weren't sure what to make of the symbol that had appeared in Knockturn, but it couldn't be anything good. Aunt Fleur had said that while they still didn't know what had happened, Victoire would be safer at home with her family.

Victoire had argued that she would be fine with Teddy, but Aunt Fleur had been adamant. When the young witch had demanded an explanation, her mother refused to say a word. All this only served to increase Teddy's suspicions; what exactly was going on here?

He knew that his grandmother knew exactly what that symbol was, but when he had questioned her about it on their way home, she had told him that it was nothing for him to worry about, and that he should avoid discussing it. She reassured Alfie and Ella that they were perfectly safe, and that they shouldn't let this put a damper on their summer holidays. After noticing that Alfie still looked rather scared, she'd sat them all down at the kitchen table and demanded that they drank steaming mugs of hot chocolate to 'calm their nerves'. It had been a while before the three of them had managed to get upstairs and converse in private. Alfie and Teddy had wasted no time in telling Ella exactly what happened—including whom they believed had emblazoned the symbol on the shop door.

Teddy heard something outside, crept quietly to the door and opened it slightly. Poking his head out of the door, he could hear his grandmother's voice from downstairs, along with another male voice that he instantly recognized as his uncle Harry's. He gestured for Alfie and Ella to stay where they were, and crept to the top of the staircase.

He could just about see his grandmother next to the fireplace, conversing with his godfather over the Floo. They were speaking in hushed voices, and Teddy strained to make out a few words.

"What could it be doing in Knockturn?" he heard his grandmother ask. "Have there been any recent sightings of it?"

 _So Uncle Harry knew about it as well_ , Teddy thought. It was obviously some sort of established symbol, one that both his grandmother and godfather were familiar with. Plus, he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he'd _seen_ it before—perhaps in a book, or something. But he couldn't for the life of him remember where.

"Not that I know of," Uncle Harry said. Teddy's godfather was in the Auror department: he'd been working there ever since he completed his training seven years ago. Teddy didn't know much about what exactly he _did_ in the department, but he knew that he was pretty high up, and that he knew a lot about what went on in the Wizarding world.

"Is there no way you can investigate this?"

He shook his head. "Robards has me working on a different project right now, one that's quite important as well. I'll try and transfer to the team working on this as soon as I can, but right now, I have to stay put."

Gran sighed. "I understand."

"I'll try and find out what I can, though," Uncle Harry reassured her.

"Would it be possible for you to stop by after work? Teddy and his friends are still a little shaken up by what happened—although, of course, they have no idea what they saw. I think they'd be reassured if you told them there's nothing to worry about."

Teddy lit up; he'd love to see his godfather. Perhaps he'd tell him what the symbol was—after all, Teddy's grandmother meant well, but she always seemed to be trying to protect him. Sometimes, all he wanted to know was the truth.

There was a brief silence before his grandmother spoke again. "There is nothing to worry about, am I correct?"

"There shouldn't be. We've seen vagrants use the sign without knowing what it means; this case could be no different. It _should_ be no different."

 _Except maybe it was,_ Teddy thought, with a sinking feeling. If Ralph had used the sign, chances were that he knew exactly what it meant—whatever it did mean.

"Of course."

"I have to get back to work now. Thank you for calling in, Andromeda. I'll be leaving in an hour; I'll stop by your house then."

"Thank you."

The Floo disconnected in a whoosh of green smoke and Teddy quickly scampered back to his room, closing the door quietly behind him. Ella and Alfie looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" Alfie asked. "Did you find out anything? Whether anyone saw Ralph? What the mark is?"

Teddy shook his head. "My godfather's not on the team investigating, but from how it sounded, they don't know that it was Ralph. Both him and my grandmother seem to know exactly what the sign is though, but they didn't say anything that I could use to figure it out."

"What did you say it looked like again? A skull with snakes around it, plus a badger, an eagle and a lion, all dead? And three crosses on the forehead?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Ella looked thoughtful; she stared off into the distance, focusing on a single spot on the wall. Teddy could practically see her flipping through books and magazines in her head, trying to figure out whether she'd ever seen the symbol before. He and Alfie had grown used to this habit of hers, and knew to stay quiet while she thought.

Finally, she said, "I don't think I've ever seen it. Certain aspects sound familiar, but otherwise, I just can't seem to place it. The four animals are the Hogwarts house mascots—I don't know what that could possibly mean—and snakes, skulls and crosses might be associated with evil."

"That doesn't tell us much," Alfie mumbled. "You know, maybe we should tell someone about what we saw. Like your godfather, Teddy, wouldn't he find that information useful?"

Teddy shook his head almost instinctively. Last year, when Ralph had attacked him, the older boy had told him that if Teddy told anyone about what he did to him, he would hurt Alfie and Ella. Teddy knew that Ralph was perfectly capable of carrying out his threat, and he didn't want to put his friends health in jeopardy. The agreement was that if he left Ralph alone, Ralph would leave them alone. If they went ahead and told an adult about what Alfie had seen, chances were that Ralph would see it as a violation of their agreement. Teddy told Alfie and Ella as much, but they still looked doubtful.

"I don't know, Teddy," Ella said, pushing her thick black glasses up her nose. "How will Ralph even know that we were the ones who told the Aurors? Anyone in the Alley could have seen him, or told on him—including that guy you said he was talking to."

"Ralph will know," Teddy said adamantly. "My grandmother told my godfather that we were there, and he'll enter that into the official records at the Auror office. If we tell the Aurors about what we saw, they'll record our names, and we'll have to testify. He'll know."

Ella thought about this for a moment before saying, "But surely they'll protect us, once they know what he did to you?"

"We don't know that they will! What if they don't? What if he goes after our families?"

At this, she visibly sobered. Alfie piped up instead. "But, Teddy, they should know. We should tell them what happened. He's violent, and if this symbol is as bad as everyone seems to think it is, then it's our responsibility to let adults know so that they can _do_ something before someone else gets hurt."

Teddy thought over this. It was true that Ralph was dangerous, and maybe they could stop him if they told the Aurors about what he'd done. But, if for some reason, the Aurors couldn't catch him and Ralph found out that Teddy had gone against their agreement, his friends could be seriously hurt. He didn't know what to do: he wanted Ralph behind bars somewhere, under close guard, but he also wanted his friends to be safe.

"Let's just think about it," he said at last. "We _know_ what Ralph threatened to do, and

we know what he's just done. I don't think we should be making any hasty decisions—for all we know, the Aurors will figure out it was him and he'll be arrested, and we won't have to do anything."

Ella and Alfie still looked doubtful, but they agreed with him anyway, much to Teddy's relief. He'd fought with them before, but often only over petty things, like studying or grades. The only major fight they'd had had been when Alfie had found out that Teddy was an orphan. It was a messy, complicated situation, but Alfie had forgiven Teddy and they'd moved past it, stronger than ever. Either way, Teddy preferred not to argue with his friends. Needless to say, it wasn't much fun.

"So, what do we do now?" Alfie asked.

"My godfather's coming in an hour," Teddy told them. "He'll want to talk to us; my grandmother thinks we're still all shaken up."

"We _are_ still shaken up."

"Until then, we _read_ ," Ella said in a bright voice. Teddy was surprised that she managed to sound so enthusiastic, but Ella's love for books knew no constraint. She jumped off the bed and walked over to his bookshelf, scanning the few titles. She picked out three and deposited one on each of their laps. "There. No better way to pass the time."

Alfie shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno, Ella, can't we watch TV or something? You do have a TV, right, Teddy?"

Teddy was about to tell Alfie that his grandmother had not consented to buy him one of those rectangular Muggle devices – she didn't see the need—but Ella shot Alfie a look so threatening that both boys immediately shut up. "Alfie. _Read_."

When Ella was determined, she was _incredibly_ scary.

They read in silence for an hour. Teddy was surprised that they managed to do so; usually, he and Alfie had very short attention spans and would often put down their books and search for something more interesting to do. But there was something oddly therapeutic about immersing himself in the world of the novel. He didn't have to think about Ralph, or about whether or not he should tell his Uncle Harry about what had happened. He didn't have to worry about anything; all he had to do was let the words on the page draw him into the fictional world that the author had created.

He reluctantly withdrew when he heard the doorbell ring. His grandmother moved soundlessly to the door and opened it. Teddy, Alfie and Ella sat in silence, listening as she invited Uncle Harry into the house. They spoke for a few moments in hushed whispers, but Teddy couldn't make anything out. He started when his grandmother called for the three of them, loud and clear.

They climbed down the stairs together and greeted Uncle Harry. He looked tired, but calm, as if he wasn't worried about anything at all; quite the opposite of Alfie, who, as Teddy noted with slight distress, had started quivering again. Teddy hoped that he wouldn't spill about what he'd seen—they needed more time to think about it, and properly decide upon a course of action.

Gran brought them all cups of steaming tea and they sat down in the small, though impeccably furnished, living room. It felt awkwardly formal, Teddy thought, to be sitting around a coffee table with a pressing subject to discuss; it was almost as if he was being treated like an adult. While other children might have enjoyed this, he simply felt uncomfortable.

Uncle Harry asked the three children how they were feeling and they all gave him the same response: fine, but a little shaken up. Ella seemed to be the calmest— after all, she hadn't actually witnessed the event—while Alfie was still on edge. Teddy was nervous too, but more because he was afraid that Alfie was going to say something to the adults.

Gran and Uncle Harry exchanged a glance before Uncle Harry continued. "I want all three of you to know that there's nothing to worry about. There's a team of Aurors investigating what happened and they're all very capable people; they'll find whoever did this. It likely doesn't mean anything, but we've got to be careful." He paused briefly. "Do you know what the mark you saw was?"

The trio looked at each other and then looked back at the adults, shaking their heads. "It kind of looked familiar, but I couldn't place it," Ella admitted.

"We decided that it was better that you hear it from us than from someone else," Uncle Harry said. "The mark that you saw is very similar to one that was used by Death Eaters, back during the Wizarding Wars. It was known as the Dark Mark."

Ella and Alfie gasped, and Teddy felt his heart go cold. Why did Ralph use the Dark Mark? What did he want with it? He knew, from his conversation with Andrew Averdeen at the end of last year, that Ralph wanted to revive the blood purity movement—did this have something to do with that?

"There were some differences to the original mark, so we're still investigating this one, trying to figure out what it means."

"But this is bad, right?" Alfie said, shakily. "I mean, if the mark is called the _Dark_ Mark, it can't be anything good."

"The Mark has appeared several times after the war ended," Harry explained gently. "Most of the time, it's just people messing around—much to the chagrin of many individuals, the incantation for the Mark was printed in a book after the war ended. The book is difficult to find now, for it is mostly out of print, and it doesn't show the correct wand movement for the spell, but people have figured out how to combine the incantation with other movements. Still, most of the time, people don't realize what it means."

But Ralph would know what it meant, Teddy thought to himself. He used that mark on purpose because he knew that it would attract attention. As he processed Uncle Harry's words, he suddenly felt his stomach sink. "Book? What's it called?"

Uncle Harry glanced at Gran, as if waiting for approval. She nodded once and he turned back to them. " _The New Age of the Dark Arts_."

"No!" Alfie exclaimed. When the adults gave him a funny look, he quickly added, "I mean, I've heard of it, that's all, I didn't expect the incantation to be in a book I've heard of. Professor Macmillan mentioned in last year, said he didn't approve of it."

Teddy felt as if he was going to be sick. A nauseating feeling was swirling in his stomach, and he wasn't sure he could take this anymore. What would happen if someone found out that they'd helped Ralph steal the book? Would they be implicated in this whole mess?

"Yes, I'm sure he doesn't." Harry nodded. "Not a whole lot of people do, but many said that the incantation should be preserved for historical purposes. But anyway." He made a conscious effort to lighten his tone. "Please, don't worry, you three. There might be a couple of Aurors who stop by tomorrow to ask you a few questions, see if you saw anything that can help us, but there's nothing to worry about. We'll find whoever did this; until then, we're trying to keep quiet about the whole thing, prevent a panic. You shouldn't trouble yourselves about it—just enjoy your summer."

Teddy didn't see how that was even possible, but he nodded anyway. Uncle Harry gave them all hugs—even Alfie and Ella, who were both looking rather pale after finding out about the mark—and sent them upstairs while he spoke to Gran. They went up the first flight quietly, but once they reached the landing, Alfie began whispering fiercely.

"Teddy, Ella, we have to tell them! We can't keep being quiet—they need to know what happened, especially now that we know that that Mark is so bad."

"What if it wasn't Ralph, Alfie?" Teddy whispered back, wishing that the other boy would keep his voice down. "What if you made a mistake?"

"I know I didn't! It was Ralph, it had to be—and now that we know about the book, I'm even _more_ sure." His voice was steadily rising. We have to tell them, it's not right to keep it from them! People need to know—what if he hurts someone? We need to tell your godfather what I saw!"

"Alfie?" Uncle Harry's voice came from below them. Teddy looked over the railings and saw both adults staring up at them. He cursed inwardly. "What did you see?"

Alfie looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. Stunned, he turned to Teddy and Ella who looked at him with blank expressions. Immediately, Teddy knew what he was going to do, and tried to speak up to stop him, but Alfie got there first.

"I saw who cast the mark," Alfie said.

.oOo.

It took some pressing to get it out of them, but they ended up telling Uncle Harry everything from when Ralph had first approached Teddy about the book, to when they'd seen him in the Alley. Both adults had been furious that Teddy had kept something like this from them—after all, he'd been attacked by the older boy and yet had refused to give him up. It was only when Teddy told them about the threat Ralph had made that they calmed down a little; they understood Teddy's motives, but his grandmother was adamant that once Ella and Alfie left, Teddy was going to be grounded until school started again.

All three of them received a long lecture on why they should never keep something of this magnitude from adults. "We could have helped you," Uncle Harry told them. "Protected all of you, and sent this Ralph to prison."

"I realise that now," Teddy said, quietly. Somehow, talking to the adults had actually helped him. He'd started off reluctantly, not wanting to say anything, and had been incredibly angry with Alfie for giving them up, but he soon realized that Alfie only had everyone's best interests in heart. Just as Teddy was trying to protect his friends, Alfie was too, just in a different way.

Maybe Alfie's way was the right way. Sure, he might be grounded, and he was sure that his grandmother was going to be less trusting of him—he had kept a lot of secrets—but now, his Uncle Harry would be able to launch a full investigation into Ralph. He said as much to the group.

"Well, not a full investigation," Uncle Harry warned them.

"Why?" Ella asked.

"You don't have any evidence, and unfortunately, the word of three young children very rarely stands up in court."

"That's ridiculous!"

"That's the way the law functions, Ella." Uncle Harry gave her a rueful smile.

"I don't understand," Alfie said slowly. "Don't you believe us?"

"I do, but others might not. For a case to pass in a court, it requires sufficient evidence, and whoever represents Ralph can easily argue against both charges: the attack on Teddy, and the casting of the Mark. Both situations had only one eyewitness and both eyewitnesses were in distress at the time. The book proves nothing—we can't prove that Ralph ever had it because it wasn't on the formal library log, if you stole it, as you say."

"Stealing a book from the library." Gran shook her head. "Really, Teddy, I thought I taught you better."

"I'm sorry," Teddy said sincerely, for what felt like the thousandth time.

"The man Ralph was arguing with!" Alfie said suddenly. "In Selwyn and Shafiq! Why don't you ask him?"

"We will," Uncle Harry reassured him. "But these Knockturn Alley types rarely give each other up. We'll try anyway. Until then, I'll investigate Ralph on my free time, figure out what he's up to. You have my word; I'll keep you safe."

.oOo.

It was much later when Uncle Harry left and Gran sent the children to bed. Ella and Alfie went upstairs first, while Teddy got a good telling-off from her about his reckless behaviour. He promised her that it would never happen again, and that he'd always tell her.

"You're not angry at me, are you, Teddy?" Alfie said, a little sheepishly. "After all, I told even when we agreed that I wouldn't."

"I'm still a little ticked off," Teddy admitted.

"But I was just trying to protect you. And us. I thought it was the best way—"

"I know," Teddy cut in. "Which is why I'm _not_ angry. It's kind of like a weight off my shoulders."

But all the weight wasn't gone yet. Ralph was still out there, and there wasn't enough evidence to pin him down. Teddy wondered how they'd be able to get it, and he expressed this to Ella and Alfie before they slept. "I think we should investigate," he said. "Find some evidence."

Ella and Alfie exchanged a worried glance before Ella spoke up, "I don't know, Teddy, don't you think we should leave it alone, now? Your Uncle Harry knows what he's doing, right?"

"Right," Teddy admitted. "But, I don't know. We're partly responsible for what Ralph did. We're the ones who got him the book, after all."

"But we didn't know—" Alfie interjected.

"What he was going to use it for, I know, I know. But we're still partly responsible, and we need to help find evidence. He _threatened_ us."

Ella bit her lip. "Look, I'm as anxious to get rid of Ralph as you are, Teddy, but I think we should let the authorities do their job. We can investigate when we go back to school if the situation hasn't been solved, okay?"

Teddy still felt a little reluctant—he wanted Ralph gone _now_ —but he nodded anyway. "Alright."

.oOo.

He slept restlessly that night, tossing and turning in his bed. One moment it was too hot, and the next too cold, so he found himself pulling his blanket on and off. Alfie didn't seem to be troubled; he slept peacefully in the makeshift bed next to Teddy's. No sound came from the nearby guest bedroom, where Ella was tucked up.

He went in and out of sleep, encountering all sorts of thoughts and nightmares. Although he now had a better idea of what the symbol was, Teddy wasn't satisfied. He was scared: he still didn't really know what it meant, or why Ralph had used it right then and there. If he had wanted to proclaim that he was reviving the blood purity movement, why hadn't he used his spell in a more public place, like Diagon Alley? And why did Ralph alter the mark?

He still had these worries when he woke up the next morning, but he kept them to himself. As the trio walked down the stairs for breakfast, Ella, sensing Teddy's discomfort, told him that he should relax and enjoy summer. She said that there was no point in getting all worked up over something they couldn't do anything about.

"It's not as if we can investigate _now_ ," she whispered to the two boys. "Logically, at this point, anything would just be mere speculation. Let's just have fun, okay?"

She was making perfect sense; there was no way that Teddy and his friends could actually go out and find information, not without arousing his grandmother's suspicion. When he agreed, Ella heaved a sigh of relief, almost as if she'd been expecting him to be difficult. This immediately made him feel bad, and he resolved to be as pleasant as possible over the next week and have as much fun with Ella and Alfie as he possibly could.

Gran had prepared a wonderful breakfast: eggs, toast, scones, fresh fruit and sausages had been laid out elegantly on the table. Alfie's eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw the food. "Wow! This is some spread, Mrs. Tonks! It looks amazing!"

"Hopefully, it tastes amazing too, Alfie," Gran said with a smile.

They tore through breakfast—the food really was as amazing as it looked. Teddy hadn't realized how hungry he was until he'd already wolfed down several eggs and slices of toast. His grandmother gave him a look, but he just argued that he was making up for Ella's pitiful appetite—she was only eating a single slice of toast and a couple of berries, despite his grandmother's attempts to convince her to try the eggs.

"Is this all you eat at home, Ella? I wouldn't want your parents to think that I haven't been feeding you."

Ella smiled, twirling a strawberry around on her fork. "Oh, yes, Mrs. Tonks, I've always had a small appetite. Please don't worry."

"So, what are we going to do today?" Teddy asked.

"We could play Quidditch!" Alfie suggested eagerly. "You have brooms, right?"

"Nope, but we could borrow my Uncle Harry's!"

"Not so fast," Gran cut in. "Today's a weekend—the Muggles in the surrounding villages might see you. Best wait until Monday."

Alfie's face fell slightly.

"That's okay," Ella said, smiling. She leaned over and elbowed Alfie playfully. "Maybe we could go on a walk and familiarize ourselves with the surroundings, just in case Alfie gets lost while on a broom."

Alfie turned as red as the strawberries on his plate. "That was _one_ time."

"And we'll never let you forget it!" Teddy chipped in.

"A walk does sound lovely, but wait until the evening. It'll be cooler then," Gran recommended.

"What'll we do till then?"

"We could read!" Ella suggested.

"Please, no," Alfie groaned. "We did enough of that last night."

"Why don't the three of you bake a cake?" Gran suggested. "I was planning on making one myself, but seeing as you don't seem to have anything better to do, you might as well try it."

"I _love_ baking!" Ella exclaimed.

"I do too!" Alfie said, a smile spreading across his face. "Do wizards bake in the Muggle way? With the stirring and the ovens and all that?"

"We use a spell to bake the cake, rather than putting it in an oven," Gran explained. She was much more familiar with Muggle devices than Teddy was; his grandfather had been a Muggleborn. "And we usually use a spell to stir the batter as well, although I can't see why you children need magic. You can do it yourselves, can't you?"

"Of course, we'll be fine." Ella beamed. "You up for this, Teddy?"

Teddy grinned back. "On one condition. It has to be a chocolate cake."

.oOo.

A few hours later, they stood in the kitchen, staring at the ingredients in front of them. Gran had taken everything out for them, and had handed them the recipe from her favourite _Witches Can Bake!_ cookbook. She'd asked them if they had needed any help, but Ella was adamant that they'd be perfectly fine on their own, and she had hence retired to the living room to read, until she was required to perform the magic to bake the cake.

"Right," Ella said, tying the strings of Gran's flowery apron. She was the only person wearing one; Alfie and Teddy had just put on old T-shirts and shorts, but apparently Ella didn't own anything that was old or inexpensive. She'd complained extensively about how her parents would kill her if she ruined anything. "We need two cups of flour. The flour's here—where's the cup?"

"Here," Teddy handed it to her. "Do you want me to measure it out?"

"I'll be fine," she assured him. Reaching for the bag, she held it firmly in both hands, and then turned it over just above the cup. Nothing happened, so, mumbling that the flour must be set firmly, she tapped the bag repeatedly, causing a deluge of flour to fall into the cup, and coat the surrounding surfaces in white.

Ella surveyed the mess that she'd made with dismay. "Oh. I didn't realise that was going to happen."

Alfie rolled his eyes. "I'll measure out the next bit."

"No, no, I can do it!" Ella exclaimed, reaching for the baking soda. As she put a teaspoon of the powder into the bowl, Alfie quickly measured out the sugar in a cup and poured it into the bowl. When Ella gave him an affronted look, he simply shrugged.

"We might as well be of help too," he said lightly, although he winked at Teddy when Ella wasn't looking.

"We need to crack the eggs in another bowl," Teddy said, examining the recipe.

"I'll do it," Ella said quickly, grabbing the eggs. Before either Alfie or Teddy could stop her, she'd slammed one down against the counter-top. The force caused the shell to break apart violently and the liquid egg inside spattered against the table and the wall.

The boys watched in horror as Ella turned around slowly and smiled sheepishly. "Oops."

"Ella," Teddy said slowly. "Have you ever actually baked a cake before?"

"I…er." For the first time since Teddy had known her, Ella actually seemed at a loss for words. "I mean, _I've_ never baked a cake, but I've seen my cook do it."

"You have a cook!?" Alfie exclaimed. "Of _course_ you have a cook!"

"I thought I knew how to do it!" Ella protested. "I've seen it done enough times

"Maybe it'd be best if, you, er, observe," Teddy suggested gently. "I mean, watch Alfie and I do it. And while we bake, we could teach you."

Ella considered this for a moment, before nodding. "Yes, that sounds like a much better idea. At least that way I won't wreck your grandmother's kitchen."

It was at that rather unfortunate moment that Gran decided to walk into the room, letting out a loud gasp when she saw the state of it. Teddy, Alfie and Ella all turned around to face her, looking rather sheepish. "I thought I left you in here to bake a cake!" she exclaimed. "Not ruin my kitchen."

Teddy, not wanting Ella to take too much of the blame, decided to step up. "Gran, we—"

Ella interrupted him. "It's all my fault, Mrs. Tonks. I…I accidentally spilled some flour, and it appears that I don't really know how to crack an egg." She forced a little laugh, although Teddy could tell that she was suffering from both severe disappointment and embarrasment. "We'll clean it right up, I promise."

Although Gran didn't look too happy about the state of her kitchen, she seemed satisfied enough by Ella's explanation. "Alright then. I suggest you clean it before you proceed."

"You're going to let us proceed?" Teddy asked.

"Yes, but under my supervision." She smiled. "Call me when the room is spick and span."

It didn't take them too long to clean up the room. Alfie was well acquainted with which Muggle instruments to use for what, and he removed the mop and cloth from the cupboard. He and Teddy began to sweep and within about ten minutes, all of the flour had vanished from the floor, and the egg was disposed of. When Gran re-entered, she was very impressed with their cleaning efforts.

The cake baking proceeded without delay, and this time, it was much more productive. Ella stood to the side with Gran as the boys—or rather, Alfie—took over the kitchen. He was a whiz at baking, expertly measuring out and blending together ingredients. Teddy, who tried to help at first, ended up stepping back, as did his grandmother, who soon realized that Alfie was more than capable. Alfie was much better at this baking thing than he was—he might as well run wild.

It took them another fifteen minutes to finish the batter: a beautiful, creamy, chocolatey-brown substance. Teddy thought it was quite a waste to bake it. "Can't we just eat the batter?" he asked his grandmother hopefully.

Gran laughed. "Not a chance, Teddy. You three _can_ lick the bowl if you'd like, though."

.oOo.

An hour and a half later, the trio sat in the garden, generous slices of the warm, freshly-baked chocolate cake in front of them. Teddy smiled and angled his face towards the sun, allowing the warmth to trickle into his skin. "This is nice.

"Yeah," Ella said, smiling. "It is. It's a good thing Alfie baked and I didn't."

"Not the cake—although it is good. I mean this." Teddy gestured to his surroundings. "Spending time with you guys. I really missed you two."

"So did I," Alfie said, his mouth full of chocolate cake.

And in that moment, Teddy realized that whatever was going on with Ralph and that sign didn't really matter. All that _did_ matter was that he was here, with his best friends. He wanted to make the most of the time that they would have together.

He was determined to make this week the best week ever.

* * *

 **A/N:** The response to C1 completely blew me away- you guys really are the best readers ever! The next couple of weeks promise to be hectic, so I'm looking at posting C3 after about two weeks. Hopefully, I'll get it done in time! (You can keep track of my writing progress on my Tumblr! Link's on my profile!)

Your reviews mean the world to me- I'd love to know what you think of this chapter. And thank you for all your follows and favourites- please remember that Escapades is no longer being updated, so you should transfer your follow here!


	3. Chapter 3: Heirloom (Wrap)

**Chapter Three: Heirloom (Wrap)**

Teddy had spent most of the summer imagining what having Alfie and Ella staying with him would be like, and he was delighted to find that he wasn't disappointed. They were trying their best to keep Ralph out of their minds, and their conversations; although Teddy couldn't help but dwell on the situation before he went to sleep, he found himself being pleasantly distracted during the day.

Monday morning brought with it a pleasant surprise. When they came downstairs, Gran revealed that Uncle Harry had stopped by before work to drop off three broomsticks that he'd taken from the Potters' huge collection. The trio all gasped with delight and immediately went to examine them.

"There's an _actual honest-to-goodness original_ Firebolt in here!" Ella exclaimed, much to Teddy's surprise, running her hands across the wood. He hadn't realized that she'd known anything about brooms. But then again, she _was_ Ella. "That's a classic, isn't it? Oh, please, may I ride this one?"

"As long as I get this one," Alfie said admiringly, pointing at an elegant Nimbus 3001. "It's gorgeous."

"That's fine with me," Teddy grinned, pulling a Comet 500 out of the pile. "This one's my favourite—Uncle Harry taught me how to fly on it."

They wolfed down their breakfast with increased alacrity, desperate to get out on the pitch, which, in their case, wasn't really a pitch at all. Rather, it was a large meadow, located a few minutes out of Godric's Hollow. The area was fairly deserted, and well away from any Muggle settlements—all the better for the kids. Teddy was fairly certain that Muggles hadn't quite invented flying balls or brooms yet.

Gran accompanied them out to the meadow, stating that there was no way on Earth she was going to let them play Quidditch without some form of adult supervision. Although at first Teddy was a bit upset about her tagging along, he eventually realized that it didn't come without it's perks: she could easily levitate the heavy set of Quidditch balls that they would've had to drag along by hand otherwise.

The meadow was beautiful in the morning: the sun cast it's rays across the grass, which was slightly wild, in stark contrast to the perfectly manicured Hogwarts' pitch. Foliage littered the ground close to the trees on the edge of the meadow, and daisies dotted the grass.

"Is there a special way to play Quidditch when you don't have the normal number of players?" Alfie asked. "Like in basketball?"

"Basketball?" Teddy asked, his brow furrowing.

"It's a Muggle sport," Ella explained. "And no, there isn't. I guess we'll just have to improvise, then. Try out different stuff."

"Be careful with the Bludgers," Gran warned them. "In fact, I'd advise you _not_ to use them."

"But Madame Hooch showed us how to bat them away," Teddy complained.

"Bludgers can still do some serious damage. Maybe you three should just work with the Quaffle and the Snitch for now."

"We could practice catching the Snitch," Alfie said, brightly. "It can be like a kind of competition, to see who can get to it first."

"That's not a bad idea!" Ella exclaimed.

Teddy walked over to the case of Quidditch balls and opened it up. Reaching inside, he clasped the delicate Snitch in his hand, and brought it out of the case. Before releasing it, he took a moment to admire it. He'd always loved the Snitch—ever since he was a baby, he'd loved how it shone when it caught the sunlight, loved the way that the gold shimmered. It was easily the best Quidditch ball; much better than the boring old Quaffle, and the Bludger which, if he was being quite honest, scared him a little bit.

He let go of it, and it hovered for a second, before darting away, out of sight. "It's out!" he exclaimed, and, mounting his broom, kicked hard against the ground and took off.

The sunlight made it difficult to see; he had to make sure that he was facing away from the light to avoid hurting his eyes. Every now and then, he thought he caught a glimpse of the tiny, golden ball, but it was only golden rays glinting off the dew on the grass. Ella and Alfie didn't seem to be having much luck either; they were simply flying around, searching.

"It can't go out of the meadow, can it?" Alfie called. "Then we'll have lost it."

"You know, Snitches don't tend to do that," Ella replied thoughtfully. "They always stay within the pitch. I don't actually know why."

"Good gracious, something Ella doesn't know!" Teddy chimed in. "However will she survive?"

"She'll look it up as soon as she gets back," Ella replied, before suddenly letting out a shrill, piercing shriek. Both Teddy and Alfie looked up with a start, afraid that she had had an accident, only to see her going into a controlled dive. "I THINK I'VE SEEN IT!" she shouted, in a very un-Ella like fashion.

Teddy darted forward on his broom, determined to catch the Snitch before Ella could. "You'd make a pretty bad Seeker if you yell out whenever you see the Snitch!" he shouted.

"Oh, shut it."

She had actually spotted it. Teddy noticed a little glimmer, moving away from him. He pressed himself down on his broom, speeding up as much as he could without losing control. He was moving closer and closer, past Ella, and when he thought he was within distance, he shakily removed one hand from the handle and stretched it out towards the ball. His fingers were just about to close around it, when suddenly, another, pale hand appeared and snatched it out from right under his nose.

"Gotcha!" Alfie exclaimed, his fist tightly clutching the tiny ball. "Bet you two didn't see that coming!"

Teddy, disappointed that he hadn't caught it himself, nodded weakly. "Good job, Alfie." He supposed he'd just have to get the next one.

But the next one went to Alfie too, as did the one after that. Alfie seemed to have an excellent eye: he spotted the Snitch before either Ella or Teddy, and seemed to know exactly when they were faking to try and trip him up. Even in their fourth game, when Ella and Teddy decided to join forces in an attempt to end Alfie's winning streak, he managed to snatch it up.

"You've got the makings of a great Seeker," Teddy admitted, as they landed in the meadow, exhausted after a good two hours of flying.

"I'm not that good," Alfie said, abashedly. He'd gone very red; Teddy knew that Alfie wasn't accustomed to getting compliments, and tended to think less of himself than others did. "I just caught a few, that's all."

"Alfie, you caught _all_ of them," Ella told him. "And it's not that Teddy and I are miserable fliers. You're just really, really good. You should go out for the Hufflepuff team, you know, when we get back to school."

"You're kidding, right? Madame Hooch would _never_ let me on, not after last year." He was referring, of course, to an unfortunate incident that occurred during a Flying lesson, when he'd gotten lost over the Forbidden Forest. He hadn't been hurt, but Madame Hooch hadn't trusted him, or his navigational skills, for the rest of the year.

"Yeah, but Madame Hooch isn't responsible for team placements," Teddy said. "That'll be Macey's responsibility." Macey Longstone was the intense, but very fair and friendly, Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team. "If you're good enough—and you are—she'll let you on."

"Maybe I'll think about it," Alfie said. "But I am only a second year. And I can't go out for Seeker- that's Bella's position."

Teddy didn't quite know what to say to that. Bella Watson was now a sixth-year—she had played Seeker last year, and had ended up causing Hufflepuff to lose the Quidditch finals when she lost control of her broom and crashed into a post. There had been quite an outcry about the whole situation, and Teddy honestly wasn't sure whether or not Bella would be allowed back on the team. He didn't want to say anything, though; Alfie was very fond of Bella.

Ella, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any sort of misgivings about telling Alfie straight to his face that Bella's position was in jeopardy. "Who knows if Macey'll want her back as Seeker?"

"Yeah, but Macey didn't _blame_ Bella for what happened. She'll be allowed back on." He shrugged. "If anything, I'll just go out for another position. Are you two thinking of trying out too?"

Ella shook her head. "No _way_. I'll have enough work, without adding Quidditch to the mix. Plus, I'm not as good as most of the people in Ravenclaw. Teddy?"

Teddy hadn't really thought about the Quidditch team. Like Alfie, he'd figured that as a second-year, he'd have a near-zero chance of actually making it on. But it would certainly be fun to represent his house, and it'd be great to get to fly often. After all, second-years no longer had weekly Flying lessons. "I dunno," he said, finally. "I guess I'll think about it. Maybe."

"You should try out!" Alfie exclaimed. "We could maybe get on the team together! Think about how much fun that'd be!"

Teddy brightened at the thought. "It certainly would be."

"Yes, and you two will leave me all alone." Ella pouted.

"You can be one of our groupies," Alfie suggested, jokingly.

Ella hit him on the arm, hard.

.oOo.

All three of them were famished by the time they returned to Teddy's house, and scarfed down lunch. Gran suggested that they lie down for awhile before they did anything else. "No point in getting too tired," she told them.

They were halfway up the stairs when the doorbell rang.

"Who do you think that is?" Alfie asked Teddy, who simply shrugged in reply. His gran rarely got visitors; they weren't necessarily a very social family. Every now and then, one of his gran's old friends from school might drop by, or Uncle Harry, but they usually didn't get unannounced guests showing up at their doorstep.

"Come on," Teddy whispered to the other two, and they scampered up the stairs and hid near the landing, so that despite being out of sight, they had an excellent view of the entrance.

Gran opened the door to reveal two unfamiliar looking individuals. One was a tall, muscular wizard with dark hair and sunglasses, while the other was a smaller woman with pale blonde hair. Both were dressed in black and red robes—Ministry regulation—and had a tiny crest embroidered above the breast that Teddy recognized immediately. "Aurors," he whispered. "They're from the Auror department."

"Mrs. Andromeda Tonks?" the man said.

"Yes," Gran replied. "How may I help you?"

The man showed her some kind of identification badge. "Auror Hammond, ma'am. This is Auror Felix. We need to ask you a couple of questions about the—er—incident at Knockturn Alley. We were told that you were a witness."

"That's correct. Can I invite you both in? I can put some tea on."

"That'll be fine, ma'am." It was the woman who spoke this time. "We won't take up too much of your time. We just need to know what exactly you saw." She got out a little notepad and a quill from the pocket of her robes. "Now, we understand you were outside Selwyn and Shafiq. If you don't mind my asking, what exactly were you doing in Knockturn Alley?"

"I was taking my grandson to see a Lycanthropy expert. Mr. Dawkins, he should be in your system of registered Potioneers."

Auror Felix looked at Hammond, who said, "We don't have any record of a Lycanthrope at this address."

"You wouldn't, because he isn't one. My grandson only has tendencies as a result of an—accidental injury, he sustained as a child. His father was one—Remus Lupin. He was married to my daughter, Nymphadora Tonks."

"Alright." Auror Felix jotted something down on her notepad. Teddy shifted uncomfortably; he didn't want his grandmother to get in trouble because of him. "And was anyone else with you?"

"My grandson's friend, Alfie Hayes. He and another friend, Ella Anderson, are staying with us for a week."

"Where are they now?"

"Upstairs, resting."

"Mrs. Tonks, to the best of your knowledge, did you see anything?" Auror Hammond asked.

Gran shook her head. "We were walking down the Alley, and then there was a sudden burst of smoke. I focused on ensuring that both Alfie and Teddy were safe. When the smoke cleared, I saw the symbol, and got the boys out of there."

"And did the boys see anything?"

Teddy bit his lip. He wondered whether Gran would tell the Aurors about what they had told Uncle Harry the previous night.

"Yes, my grandson's friend claims that he saw an individual named Ralph Lewis arguing with a man at Selwyn and Shafiq. He says that Ralph was the one who cast the symbol. This has already been told to Auror Potter."

"I see." There was a pause as Hammond consulted a piece of parchment he had taken from his pocket. "Ralph Lewis, a Hufflepuff student who recently graduated Hogwarts with top marks in his N.E.W.T.S.?"

"I'm afraid I don't know many details about this boy, but yes, he was a Hufflepuff student."

"Hm," Hammond made an odd noise, as if he didn't quite believe her. Teddy looked at Alfie and Ella and saw his own confusion reflected back at him. It was only then that he noticed a glimpse of Hammond's tie: yellow and black. The Hufflepuff colours.

"If you'll forgive me, ma'am, a Hufflepuff committing such a crime seems…well, unlikely."

"If you're implying that my grandson and his friends are lying, I can assure you, you are mistaken. They wouldn't do such a thing." Gran's voice had become much colder.

"Would they, perhaps, lie to protect someone?"

"What?" Alfie whispered. "What's he getting at? Who'd we be protecting?"

"I'm afraid I don't quite follow."

"Hammond—" Auror Felix started, but Hammond held up a hand.

"What is your maiden name, Mrs. Tonks?"

"I don't see what that has to do with—"

"What is your maiden name?"

Gran paused, and lifted her head, so that she was staring defiantly into Auror Hammond's eyes. "Black. My maiden name is Black."

"I see. Would that be the same Black family that Bellatrix Lestrange belonged to? That numerous supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named belonged to?"

"Yes."

"And what Hogwarts house were you in?"

"Slytherin."

"I see."

There was a pause.

"Auror Hammond, forgive me for asking, but what exactly are you attempting to say here? Are you implying that I had something to do with what happened at Knockturn Alley?"

"I don't know, ma'am. Did you?"

Ella let out a little gasp. Teddy held his breath; he couldn't see his grandmother's face, but he knew that she would stolid, icy. That very fact was reflected in her voice, when she said, calmly, but sharply, "How dare you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"How dare you come into _my_ house and implicate me in this? Simply because I am a Black and a Slytherin. Do you have any idea what the Death Eater's have done to me?"

"Ma'am—"

"Voldemort tore my family apart."

Auror Felix flinched. "Ma'am, please refrain from—"

"Using the name? A great man once told me that fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself. The Death Eaters killed my husband, my daughter, my son-in-law. They left my grandson an orphan. Blood purity took my family away from me. How _dare_ you imply that I would support such a destructive movement?"

"Ma'am—" Auror Felix tried, but Gran wasn't having any of it.

"Out," she said coldly. "Out of my house."

"Ma'am—"

"I don't want you here. My grandson and his friends are upstairs. You are disturbing them. If you have any further enquiries, you may send Auror Potter."

And with that, she slammed the door in their faces.

Alfie, Ella and Teddy exchanged stunned glances and slunk away to Alfie and Teddy's room before Gran realized that they had overheard the entire exchange.

"Can you imagine, them blaming your grandmother like that?" Ella whispered, when they were behind closed doors. "Just because she's a Slytherin? That's so—"

"Completely unfair," Teddy finished for her. He didn't know what else to say; he'd always had faith in the Aurors, he'd always thought them a beacon of light that could solve any problem and was always completely fair. This experience had disillusioned him. How could he trust people like that to find Ralph and to treat him appropriately?

He felt like he couldn't. He knew that some Aurors, like his godfather, were the responsible adults and people he'd always known—or rather, thought—them to be, but if others like Hammond and Felix were handling Ralph's case, he was worried.

.oOo.

The week went by in a flash, and before Teddy knew what was happening, Alfie and Ella were getting ready to leave. Ella was to be picked up by her chauffeur—Teddy and Alfie both still couldn't get over the fact that she even _had_ one, but they had become somewhat accustomed to the fact that she had more money than both of them put together—while Gran would be dropping Alfie back to Oxford via a hidden Floo in one of the older colleges.

They hadn't really had a chance to talk about Ralph; Gran and Uncle Harry had kept them busy, and they'd been too exhausted to stay up very late, talking. Plus, Teddy got the feeling that Alfie and Ella didn't really _want_ to talk about Ralph—any attempt he had made to bring up the subject had been greeted with reluctance, at best. They seemed to believe that it was best left in the hands of the Aurors, even though they'd seen what had happened with Hammond and Felix.

Once Alfie and Ella were gone, the summer seemed to wrap up. Victoire visited frequently; Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur hadn't told her much about what had happened at Knockturn Alley, and Gran had made him swear not to tell her. Apparently, they didn't want her more worried than she should be. Although Teddy was _dying_ to tell her, and she was positively dying to know, he kept quiet. After all, Ralph was dangerous, and he didn't want the threat against Alfie and Ella to extend towards Victoire too. All he'd told her was that there'd been a weird mark on a door, nothing about who had cast it, or what it meant.

There hadn't been any more news about Ralph. Uncle Harry had told him the Aurors had gone around to his registered address, but the woman who opened the door had told them that Ralph was away on an extended holiday—fairly common behaviour for someone who'd just graduated from Hogwarts. As the Aurors had no real evidence against Ralph, they hadn't been able to find out anything more, and the woman hadn't exactly been forthcoming. Teddy was disappointed; he was sure that Ralph hadn't really taken an extended holiday, and was probably hiding out somewhere, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Before he knew what was happening, his things were away in his trunk, and it was the last night of the summer. He and Gran were invited to dinner at Uncle Harry's—an invitation that they had eagerly accepted. His aunt Ginny cooked a mean roast, and it was a chance to see his little cousins before he went away to Hogwarts. James in particular was extremely happy to see him.

"Teddy's going to take me with him to Hogwarts," he exclaimed at the dinner table.

This was news to everyone, including Teddy, who looked up with surprise. "I am?"

"He is, is he?" Gran raised an eyebrow.

James nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, yup. I'm going to stow away in his trunk. I've got to go do it after dinner."

"I see," Aunt Ginny said.

"I'm going too!" Albus piped up excitedly. "I'm going to stow in Teddy's _other_ trunk."

"I only have one trunk," Teddy told the boys.

James stuck his tongue out at Albus. "Looks like you can't come."

"That's not fair!" Albus exclaimed. "Mum!"

" _Neither_ of you are stowing away in Teddy's trunk," Ginny told them firmly. "And there's no point sulking about it—you wouldn't fit, anyway, it's full of books."

Still, it was difficult to convince the two boys to let go of Teddy and go to bed after dinner. There were tearful goodbyes from both; Teddy was grateful that Lily was too tired to make any kind of major fuss.

Teddy hung around upstairs in Uncle Harry's study while his godparents put the children to sleep. The room was pretty spotless; Uncle Harry barely ever used it, except for the occasional day when he was feeling under the weather and couldn't go in to work. One of the main ground rules his godfather had established was the total separation of work and home life; as far as he was concerned, they didn't mix.

Bored, Teddy walked around the room, investigating. There were a few photos on the wall of the kids—including one of Teddy. He smiled when he saw it; he always loved how Uncle Harry made him feel like he was part of his immediate family. As he looked at the photo, he leaned against the desk.

Bad idea. The desk obviously had weak legs; it shuddered, and the front drawer fell open, revealing a single, old piece of parchment. Teddy, seized with curiosity, checked to make sure that no one was coming, and then picked it up.

It was completely empty on both sides. He wondered why Uncle Harry would have a random piece of parchment sitting in his desk; he couldn't possibly intend to _use_ it to write on, it looked far too old for that. But there was absolutely nothing on the paper.

"What are you doing?"

Teddy jumped and turned around to see his godfather standing behind him. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I just—I was—this fell out of your desk." Not entirely true, but it was the easiest explanation.

To his surprise, his godfather smiled. "I was wondering when you'd find this."

"What?" He was caught off-guard.

"I always expected you to find it at some point—in fact, I always thought it'd be earlier. But this is a good time."

"I don't understand," Teddy said, staring at the piece of parchment. "It's just blank parchment. Isn't it?"

Uncle Harry shook his head. Walking forward, he took the parchment from Teddy's hands. "This, Teddy, is not a blank piece of parchment. This is, in fact, a very special map."

"It doesn't look like one."

"Hold on a second." Uncle Harry pulled his wand out of his robes and tapped the parchment with it. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

All of a sudden, the parchment began to change. Ink swirled from the point where Uncle Harry's wand had touched it, and began to create webs across the paper. Teddy watched with fascination as the map filled out. "What is this thing?"

"It's called the Marauder's Map. It's a map of Hogwarts—it shows you every corner of the castle, and everyone who comes and goes. You can use it to locate anyone in the castle."

"I didn't know you could do that," Teddy commented, marveling at the map.

"It's very advanced magic."

"Did you make it?"

"No." Uncle Harry paused. "Your father did."

"What?" Teddy looked up at Uncle Harry, shocked. "My father—made this?"

"He had help. From my father, and their friends, your Uncle Sirius, who you never met, and Peter Pettigrew."

Teddy had known that his father had been friends with his godfather's father at Hogwarts, but he'd never imagined that they'd created something as fantastic as this during their time together. "It's amazing," he said, unable to take his eyes off it. "I wonder how they did it."

"Advanced magic," Uncle Harry repeated, with a smile. "I'm afraid I don't really understand it all myself—your aunt Hermione probably does though." He held out the parchment to Teddy. "It's yours, you know."

"What? It can't be."

"It is." Uncle Harry didn't move, and Teddy found himself reaching out and taking it from his grasp. It felt delicate, and yet he had an odd confidence that it wouldn't tear. "It belonged to your father. By default, it should now go to you."

"But it belonged to your father too," Teddy protested, albeit half-heartedly.

"And I relinquish my possession of it to you," Uncle Harry said, simply. "Keep it. Use it, if you will, responsibly and wisely."

"Thank you," Teddy said, quietly. Looking down at the map again, he felt overcome with emotion. He knew it was silly, but he felt as if a small part of his father was in the map, guiding him. "I will."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the late update- thank you for sticking with me! Essentially, I have a lot going on right now, and I am very _very_ busy. I'm in the process of moving and starting university, and I've been going through some family stuff. Thank you for your patience. Chances are updates will be a lot more irregular now thanks to uni work that'll be starting soon, but you can keep up with me on _sincerelynymph_ and make sure to **follow this story** so you don't miss a chapter! Thank you for your patience and your general amazingness!


	4. Chapter 4: Veins (Value)

**Chapter Four: Veins (Value)**

"You're completely certain you have everything, Teddy? You've packed your books, stationary and potions ingredients?"

"Ye—es, Gran." Teddy rolled his eyes as he lugged his trunk down the stairs. Gran had asked him the same question at least twenty times in the last three days. It was just like her to expect that he'd forgotten something—although, to be fair, he had almost left his new History of Magic textbook in the Flourish and Blotts bag. It wouldn't have been too big of a loss, though. History of Magic was his least favourite subject, and he couldn't wait to drop it the moment he got the chance to.

He deposited his trunk on the ground floor with a loud _thump_ and joined his grandmother in the dining room, where she had already filled his plate with fried eggs, sausages, beans and fruit.

"Eat well, now, Teddy. Then you won't feel the need to stuff yourself full of sweets on the train."

Teddy nodded, grinning to himself. He knew that even if he ate a good breakfast, he'd be ravenous by the time he got onto the Hogwarts Express— and what was more, he knew that Ella would spring for treats off the trolley, as she always did.

His grin widened. Although it hadn't been _that_ long since he'd last seen Ella and Alfie, he'd missed them loads. Their next year at Hogwarts together was looming, and he just knew that it would be fantastic—how could it not be, now that Victoire was joining them? As he ate, he babbled on to his grandmother about all the things he was looking forward to: the feasts, the Quidditch—

"—the homework," Gran teased.

Teddy screwed up his nose. "Maybe not the homework, although it's not usually that bad, and Ella helps. I wonder how Victoire will find it though—I mean, it can be a bit overwhelming, although we can definitely help her out, since we learned it all last year, and—"

He was interrupted when Gran cleared her throat, and put her fork down.

"Did I say something?"

"No," she reassured him. "But there is something I'd like to say to you."

"Oh." Nervousness crept into Teddy's stomach as he looked up at his grandmother, wondering what she could possibly want to say. She looked awfully serious; perhaps she was about to warn him not to look into what Ralph was up to. After all, she'd already spoken to him about it several times; according to her, it was the Aurors job to figure out whether Ralph had indeed cast that sign in Knockturn Alley, and Teddy was to simply leave the whole situation alone and concentrate on his studies. Although he'd promised to do so, Teddy had every intention of at least trying to figure out what Ralph was doing. He didn't know how he was going to investigate, but he felt as if he had to—after all, everything that had happened was his fault. If only he'd never agreed to steal that book from the library.

Thankfully, though, Gran didn't seem to want to discuss Ralph. Rather, the subject of the conversation was quite different. "I want to talk to you about Victoire."

"Victoire?!" Teddy almost dropped his fork. "What about her?"

"I understand that you're excited, Teddy. You two have been friends since you were toddlers, and now you're both about to go to school together. But keep in mind that you will be in different years. It is important that Victoire has the chance to make friends in her own year group, with her own peers."

"Yeah, but what if she wants to hang around with us?"

"I have no doubt that she will indeed wish to spend a majority of her time with you, Alfie and Ella—at least at first. But—and Aunt Fleur quite agrees with me—she must learn to move out of her comfort zone and make other friends as well, just as you did last year. And she will likely only do that with your encouragement."

"So you're saying that I shouldn't spend time with Vic?"

"No." Gran sighed heavily. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that yes, of course you should spend time with her, but you must also give her space."

"I don't understand," Teddy said. "What if she doesn't want that space?"

Gran paused for a second, contemplating, before continuing. "Let's think of it this way—what if your roles were reversed? Let's say that Victoire went to Hogwarts last year, and she made lots of really good friends, who you've met and you like. Now, you're about to start at Hogwarts, and you already have a group of people who you know through Victoire, so you spend all your free time with them. You sit with them on the Hogwarts Express, and at breaktimes and lunchtimes, and as a result, you don't become close friends with anyone in your year. Perhaps you know Alfie and Ella in passing, but because you're always with Victoire and her friends, you never get to be proper friends with them. Does it make sense, now?"

Teddy bit his lip and looked down at his plate. He'd been so looking forward to sitting with Victoire on the Hogwarts Express, to showing her the ropes, but Gran's little story had really gotten to him. What if it had been the other way around, and he'd never become friends with Alfie and Ella? They had been his support system, his backbone all the way through his first year and he couldn't imagine life at Hogwarts without them. Victoire was his best friend; how could he deprive her of the opportunity to make the same kind of friends that he had?

"I guess it does," he mumbled. "But what if she wants to spend all her time with me, Alfie and Ella?"

He saw a flash of irritation in his grandmother's eyes and quickly elaborated. "I don't mean that she _should_ , no, I completely get what you're telling me, Gran, and I agree. But I don't want to push her away, either."

Gran visibly softened. "I understand, Teddy, and it will be difficult. But Aunt Fleur will have had the same conversation with Victoire—"

 _That'll have gone well_ , Teddy thought sarcastically.

"—and I'm sure she'll understand. Subtle hints now and then wouldn't hurt either, if you need to make them. Remember, it's for her own good."

Teddy nodded slowly. Suddenly, going back to Hogwarts didn't seem nearly as exciting. Victoire was surely expecting to sit with him on the Hogwarts Express—how on Earth was he going to convince her _not_ to?

.oOo.

Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters was bustling, as it always was on September the first. Teddy couldn't help but wonder why Muggles never noticed a surprising lot of funny-looking people disappearing through a solid wall, but he supposed that there were some sort of enchantments on the place that made them simply look in the other direction.

The goodbyes passed without much event, for the most part. Aunt Fleur did get a little bit teary-eyed at the prospect at being away from her eldest child for so long, and Dominique threw a bit of a tantrum about not being old enough to go to Hogwarts. Teddy couldn't help but feel a little jealous as he watched Victoire with her family; although he knew he wasn't alone, like his uncle Harry had been when he first went to Hogwarts, he would never see his mother get teary-eyed at the prospect of him being away for too long, he would never appeal to his father when he couldn't get through to his mother. They could never be there for him like Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur were for Victoire.

His pocket suddenly felt rather heavy; he remembered that he was carrying the Marauder's Map in it. Although he wanted to show it to his friends, he also wanted to keep it to himself for a little while. It was so special; one of the only remnants he had of his father. He didn't want to share that quite yet.

Soon, he and Victoire were clambering aboard the scarlet Hogwarts Express, waving frantically to their families on the platform below. Teddy couldn't quite tell, but he thought Victoire looked a little teary-eyed. He didn't blame her; going off to school for the first time was an emotional moment. He was surprised he hadn't shed a few tears last year.

"We should probably find seats, shouldn't we? Or find Alfie and Ella?" Victoire asked him. "Before the train starts to move."

Teddy felt his heart sink a little. He'd been thinking a lot about his conversation with his grandmother that morning, and he had no idea how he was going to subtly push Victoire to sit with the other first-years. "Er—yeah," he said. "Yeah, we should. I guess."

She gave him a funny look. "Is something wrong, Teddy?"

"Oh! Er, no! Nothing at all!"

"Come _on_." She narrowed her eyes. "I know you better than that. What's up? Spill, before I make you."

"Wouldn'tyouprefertositwithotherpeople?"

"What?"

Teddy took a deep breath. "Would you perhaps prefer to sit with other people, Vic? Like, other first-years, maybe?"

Victoire laughed. "Nah—I'll have plenty of time to meet them later, won't I? At the Sorting, and during classes. I'd rather sit with you, Alfie and Ella."

"Yeah, but the Hogwarts Express is a great place to make friends, you know. It's where I met Ella, and got to know Alfie a bit better. You _sure_ you don't want to sit in a different carriage?"

The usual glimmer in Victoire's eyes had vanished and been replaced by something a lot more sinister. "No," she said, firmly. "I want to sit with you. Unless, of course, you don't want to sit with me."

"No!" Teddy exclaimed. "No, of course not!"

"Good. Then let's find a carriage."

Teddy followed her down the narrow corridors in-between the compartments, silently cursing to himself. He should've known he'd be horrible at this—although he understood what his grandmother had said, he didn't want to offend Victoire either, and she got offended rather easily. This was certainly going to be more difficult than he had anticipated.

"Teddy!"

He spun around to see Alfie and Ella waving at him from inside a compartment. He grinned and signalled to Victoire, who stopped and turned in.

"We hoped you'd find us," Alfie said. "Ella almost got out and went to look for you. Are you sitting with us too, Victoire?"

"If that's okay with you," she replied, a massive grin on her face. "I'm _so excited,_ you guys!"

"I'm sure," Ella said warmly. "I remember being on the train this time last year—I was sure that I'd be sitting alone the whole way through though. I was so glad when Teddy came and sat with me."

"I'm glad I came and sat with you too," Teddy said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have become friends." He glanced over at Victoire, but she didn't seem to have gotten the hint.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have—" Alfie was cut off by the sound of the glass door of the compartment opening. Standing at the entrance was a girl who looked to be about Victoire's age, wearing black Hogwarts robes. Her dark brown hair was tied up into a messy ponytail and she looked at them with striking, twinkling green eyes.

"Hiya," she said. "Sorry, I can't find another place to sit, and the train's starting to move, and I've got the _worst_ balance in the world—you know how it is. Mind if I sit here?"

She didn't give any of them a chance to reply before she plopped herself down, right next to Alfie and opposite Victoire. "I'm Riley, by the way. Are you lot all first years, then?" Teddy opened his mouth to reply, but she beat him to it. "I am, though you probably figured that out from the spanking new robes. I can't _wait_ to be Sorted—don't have any idea where I'm going to end up."

"I am," Victoire said quickly. "I'm Victoire. These are my friends—Teddy, Ella and Alfie. They're all in second-year."

"Ooh, second-year? Which houses?"

"Ella's in Ravenclaw, Alfie and Teddy are in Hufflepuff."

Riley wrinkled her button nose. "Hufflepuff? Isn't that supposed to be the loser house which you go to if no other house wants you?"

"That's not true!" Alfie exclaimed. "Hufflepuff values loyalty and dedication, and loads of other things that the other houses don't really care about, you know. It's a great house."

"If you say so." Riley shrugged. Teddy couldn't help but feel a little irritated with her; after all, she'd just barged in, and she had no right to be so arrogant and judgemental about Hufflepuff. But he kept quiet—he didn't want to incite an argument, and at least Victoire was meeting another first-year. "What house are you hoping to be in, Victoire?"

Victoire, who had spent the entire summer adamantly insisting that she wanted to be in Hufflepuff, looked nervously at Teddy. "Well, my dad was in Gryffindor," she said, slowly. "I wouldn't mind Gryffindor, I guess. Or Hufflepuff, really, because I'd like to be with Teddy and Alfie."

"Gryffindor, eh? Just like Harry Potter! I guess Gryffindor'd be cool. I don't think I'd mind Ravenclaw either, but my parents are always telling me that I'm not smart enough. I hear that you have to pass a test just to get into the Common Room—I'd probably fail and end up sleeping in the corridor, which wouldn't be too great."

"Actually, it's just a riddle," Ella muttered, but Riley ignored her.

"Anyway, I've heard so much about Hogwarts and how _wonderful_ it is, and I'm really excited to make loads of new friends and learn loads of new things. I mean, I'm sure it'll be difficult, but it can't be _that_ bad, not really."

She continued to babble on, completely oblivious to whether or not the people around her were even listening. Teddy, Alfie and Ella exchanged looks, all clearly rather peeved. Teddy wished that Riley would stop talking; he hadn't seen Alfie and Ella in several weeks, and he wanted time to catch up with them before they reached Hogwarts. At this rate, they wouldn't be able to even exchange proper greetings until they got onto the carriages that would take them up to the castle.

Victoire, on the other hand, seemed to be rather enjoying herself. She engaged in lively conversation with Riley, and talked on and on about Teddy's exploits in Hogwarts the year before. He was glad to note, though, that she left out all the things he'd told her about Ralph—he didn't quite want people gossiping about that.

Riley's constant stream of babble was only stopped when there was a knock on the compartment door. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Yes, yes!" Ella sprung up from her chair, practically waving her wallet around. Teddy and Alfie looked at each other, rather shocked. Although they'd expected Ella to spring for trolley snacks, as she usually did, they hadn't expected her to act so eagerly. After all, she was rarely hungry.

When Ella returned, carrying armfuls of snacks, she gave extra to Riley and Victoire, claiming that since they were first-years, they might as well enjoy their first train ride.

"And," she whispered to Teddy and Alfie. "They might just shut up if they're too busy eating."

Luck, however, was not on their side. When they finally reached Hogwarts, the three second-years stumbled off the train, all complaining of growing headaches. Teddy had no idea how Victoire's throat wasn't hurting—she and Riley simply hadn't stopped talking. He was glad, though, that she'd found a friend in her year. Although Riley was quite the chatterbox, she seemed like a nice enough person. She and Victoire had a lot in common—they liked a lot of the same things, namely mystery novels, chocolate and Quidditch, and had _certainly_ found enough to talk about.

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!"

Teddy turned around to see Professor Hagrid, the Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures Professor, at the edge of the platform, surrounded by several eager, yet nervous first-years. He spotted Teddy and waved. Teddy waved back; Professor Hagrid was one of his favourite people at Hogwarts, even if he didn't actually teach him. When Teddy couldn't sleep on the night of the full moon, he often went to Hagrid's cabin. The Professor was always very kind to him, and for the first time in his life, Teddy had actually found himself looking forward to the full moon. He made a mental note to check the lunar calendar that Ella had bought him to find out when the next one was.

"I guess I should go then," Victoire said. "Do you three go up to the castle separately?"

Teddy nodded. "Yeah—we go the normal way. You guys get to go by boat—it's a wonderful ride."

"I hear the view's _amazing_ ," Riley chipped in.

"It definitely is," Alfie said.

"See you up at Hogwarts, then." Victoire grinned nervously at Teddy. "Just think—the next time you see me, we'll be a few minutes away from knowing what House I'm going to be in! Can you imagine? We'll finally know!"

"We finally will." Teddy smiled back at her and gave her a quick hug. "Good luck, Vic. See you later."

Victoire gave him a jaunty wave before walking off towards Hagrid with Riley. Teddy, Alfie and Ella had barely turned around and begun making their way to the carriages when Teddy heard a rather familiar voice.

"That your girlfriend then, Teddy?"

A girl with long, ginger hair skipped up so she was walking alongside Teddy.

Teddy couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Good to see you too, Daisy." Daisy Shipkins was a Hufflepuff girl in Teddy's year. He wasn't sure if he'd call her a friend—she was a little difficult to stomach, most of the time, and although they'd never fought, he'd frequently thought she was a spoilt brat. Ella certainly didn't like her.

"Oh, yes, it is good to see you! You too, Alfie! And, er, you, Anderson." Daisy looked at Ella with contempt; Ella returned her icy gaze and nodded once. "So, then, who was that? Is she your girlfriend?"

"Daisy!" Matilda Goshawk, another Hufflepuff girl, and one who Teddy, Alfie and Ella were all rather fond of, appeared at Daisy's side. Her mousy brown hair was tied up in a messy ponytail and her cheeks were red, as if she'd been running. "You just took off, and left me."

"Oh, don't be so silly, Matilda." Daisy waved her off. "I saw Teddy and wanted to say hi. Don't you want to say hi?"

Daisy, Teddy noted, clearly hadn't changed over the summer. Although she and Matilda spent a lot of time together, she didn't seem to be a particularly good friend to her.

"Hi Teddy," Matilda said. "Hi Alfie, hi Ella! I missed you guys!"

"We missed you too, Mat," Ella said, warmly, before shooting another glare at Daisy. "Did you have a good summer?"

Matilda opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Daisy, who said loudly, "So, as I was saying before Matilda interrupted me—who was that girl, Teddy? The blonde one?"

"That's Victoire," Teddy replied. "She's one of my best friends."

"I thought Ella and Alfie were your best friends."

"People can have multiple best friends, you know," Ella snapped.

"Did I _ask_ you, Anderson?"

"Ella, Alfie and Victoire are _all_ my best friends," Teddy cut in quickly. "I've known Victoire since I was a baby—her parents are good friends with my godfather and my grandmother."

"Do you think she'll be in Hufflepuff too, then?"

Teddy shrugged. "Maybe." He certainly hoped that Victoire would be in Hufflepuff; it would be so lovely to have her in the same house. He could really show her the ropes, then.

A few minutes later, they reached the clearing where Hogwarts students were climbing aboard the carriages that would take them up to the castle. Teddy saw several other second-years; Morna Clemmons and Giovanna Downing, two Hufflepuff second-years, waved Daisy and Matilda over and Jonathan Trigg and Archie Quintin yelled hello to Teddy and Alfie as their carriage took off.

"Look, there's Michael and Terence," Ella said in a hushed voice, jerking her chin towards Teddy's right. Teddy groaned; he'd been hoping that Terence might've been eaten by a Hippogriff over the summer. They'd never gotten along; in fact, Terence was often downright nasty towards Teddy, and had even gone so far as to insult his father at the end of last year. Michael and Teddy, however, had been all right until he'd refused to stick up for Teddy.

"I wonder whether they'll make any trouble this year," Alfie mused aloud.

"They'd better not," Teddy said grimly.

"And even if they do, you don't go getting mixed up in it, Teddy," Ella said, sounding an awful lot like Teddy's grandmother. "I know that Terence has some weird aversion to you, but you should try and avoid him as much as possible."

"I'll leave him alone if he leaves me alone."

"If he doesn't leave you alone, I'll _make_ him leave you alone," Alfie said staunchly.

Teddy laughed. "Thanks, buddy."

The trip up to the castle was short and uneventful. They got into a carriage with Madhuri Lodi, one of Ella's roommates. Teddy considered her a very good friend; he'd never forget how she'd helped them plan Ella's birthday surprise the year before. The surprise itself had been a disaster—Ella had ended up in the hospital wing with a broken wrist—but she'd appreciated the thought behind it.

Entering the Great Hall, Teddy and Alfie waved goodbye to Ella and Madhuri, and headed off towards the Hufflepuff table.

"This feels weird," Alfie murmured, and Teddy nodded in agreement. As first-years, they'd mainly sat at the first-year table, a separate table for all first-years, regardless of house. It felt odd to be segregated again.

It felt odd to witness _everything_ from the perspective of a second-year, Teddy thought, as he watched the first-years file in. He caught Victoire's eye and smiled at her. She smiled back confidently, but he could see the nervousness in her eyes all through Professor McGonagall's short speech and even during the Sorting Hat's song, which, he noted, was different to the one it had sang the previous year.

"When I call your name, please step forward," Professor McGonagall said.

"It's kind of exciting, watching it," Alfie whispered to Teddy, as 'Abbey, Melissa' was proclaimed a Ravenclaw. "Not as nerve-wracking."

"Definitely not," Teddy replied. "Remember how we—"

He was cut off as a roar erupted at the Hufflepuff table—'Bletchley, Rudolph' had just become the first new Hufflepuff. Teddy and Alfie applauded eagerly.

Teddy refocused his attention on the line of first-years. 'Burrow, Cassidy' was Sorted into Gryffindor, and as she ran off to her new House table, he noticed a familiar face stepping up towards the hat.

"Carrow, Riley."

A murmur went up among certain parts of the Great Hall; several of the older students began whispering among one another.

"What's going on?" Alfie whispered to Teddy.

"I dunno," Teddy replied, watching as Riley, apparently unfazed, hopped up onto the stool and had the Sorting Hat placed on her head.

 _Carrow, Riley_. Now, where had he heard that name before? Riley hadn't mentioned her last name on the train, he was sure of that, but it still sounded familiar.

" _SLYTHERIN!"_ the Sorting Hat exclaimed.

Despite the applause that erupted from the Slytherin table, Teddy managed to overhear a nearby sixth-year say, "It figures. After all, she does come from a family of Death Eaters."

And his blood went cold.

* * *

 **A/N:** And I'm back (several months later). I've been really busy over the last few months, and haven't had a lot of time to write. Although updates will remain slow, writing this chapter has reminded me of how much I love telling Teddy's story, so I will definitely try my best to keep them coming. As usual, you can keep up with my progress on my blog, _sincerelynymph_ , and also ask any questions you may have either in the review section here, or over on the blog! Thank you so much for sticking with me!


	5. Chapter 5: Hypocrisy (Translucent)

**Chapter Five: Hypocrisy (Translucent)**

A family of Death Eaters.

 _Death Eaters_.

As illogical as he knew it was, Teddy had never even thought about Death Eaters as _having_ families—not proper ones, at least. Riley was a year younger than he was—did that mean that her parents had escaped Azkaban, and then had her? Had she been born _in_ Azkaban? Did she believe in blood purity, and hold all the prejudices that the Death Eaters had? He remembered her wrinkling up her nose at the mention of Hufflepuff on the train; was that because of what her family had taught her?

He watched her as she animatedly shook hands with various people at the Slytherin table. She seemed so lively, so unlike anything he might imagine the child of a Death Eater to be. He couldn't see her as a staunch supporter of blood purity—but, then again, his last year at Hogwarts had taught him that he couldn't take anything or anyone at face value. He'd trusted Ralph, he'd trusted Michael, and they'd both let him down at the end of the day.

Alfie seemed to notice that something was up, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it could be. He elbowed Teddy gently, and whispered, "Hey, you okay?"

Teddy nodded, still unable to speak. Alfie obviously hadn't overheard the sixth-year, and as a Muggleborn, he was unfamiliar with most details surrounding the Wizarding Wars.

"That was a bit unexpected, wasn't it? Riley, in Slytherin? She didn't seem the type to me—not that there's anything wrong with being a Slytherin, of course, but I've never met one who talks so much. Kind of had her pegged as a Gryffindor."

"I s'pose," Teddy mumbled.

Alfie tilted his head. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little out of it."

"I'm fine, really, Alfie. Don't worry about it."

"Would you two shut up?" Daisy hissed. "Watch the Sorting."

Teddy turned his attention back to the slowly dwindling line of first-years. You really couldn't tell what house someone might end up in, he mused. A particularly mousy-looking girl was declared a Gryffindor, while a pompous-looking, broad-shouldered boy was determined to be a Hufflepuff. He wondered, not for the first time, how the Sorting Hat worked, how it managed to see every thought inside your head, and place you accordingly.

"Weasley, Victoire," McGonagall's voice rang out across the Great Hall.

Once again, a murmur sprung up among several students, but this time, Teddy understood it. Weasley was a rather famous last name, after all; the entire family had been lauded for their contribution to the Order of the Phoenix, and the triumph over Voldemort. And, of course, it didn't hurt that Weasley's Wizard Wheezeswas one of the most popular shops among Hogwarts students, particularly now that it had bought over Zonkos Joke Shop and established a Hogsmeade branch.

Teddy crossed his fingers and squeezed them tightly together as Victoire walked confidently towards the front of the Hall. She held her head high, but Teddy could see that she was twirling her hair repeatedly around her fingers, something she only did when she was nervous. She got up onto the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the Hat on her head.

 _Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff_ , Teddy thought desperately. _Please, Hufflepuff_.

There was a split moment of silence before the Hat's brim opened wide and proclaimed, " _GRYFFINDOR!_ "

The Gryffindor table erupted into enthusiastic applause. Teddy clapped politely, but felt his stomach sink with disappointment. Sure, Gryffindor was a great house—they all were, really— and he knew that Victoire would have a great time there; after all, practically her entire family had been in the house of the brave. But he couldn't help but feel sorely disappointed that they wouldn't be together.

 _At least she won't be with Riley_ , a little voice in his head piped up. He immediately felt bad for thinking in such a manner—there was no reason to presume that Riley would be a bad influence on Victoire just because she came from a family whose past dealings were rather dubious.

On her way to the Gryffindor table, Victoire caught Teddy's eye and smiled apologetically. Teddy tried to look as enthusiastic as he possibly could and gave her a thumbs up. "Have fun," he mouthed.

Victoire's grin widened and became less penitent. Teddy watched her as she happily skipped off, until he could only just about make out the gleam of her blonde hair at the Gryffindor table.

"Pity Vic's not with us," Alfie said, genuinely. "It'd have been nice to get to know her better."

"You'll still get to know her," Teddy said, not particularly liking Alfie's implication that simply because Victoire was in Gryffindor, they wouldn't be able to spend time together. "It's not like she's going to a different school or something."

"True. Let's just hope she doesn't become buddies with Terence." Alfie winked at Teddy and then burst out laughing at the disgusted expression on his face.

The Sorting ended as 'Zeikos, Miranda' became a Slytherin, and Professor McGonagall took to the front of the hall to deliver her annual address. Teddy listened to her greet them and wish them luck with great interest, before losing focus when he realised that she had lapsed into things he supposed she would tell them every year—the Forbidden Forest was off limits, Quidditch trials would be held in the second week of term, and so on. His attention began to wander; he noticed that Victoire seemed completely engrossed in McGonagall's speech, while Riley, at the Slytherin table, seemed to be making lively conversation with the boy next to her, and completely ignoring the headmistress. Teddy frowned; he couldn't help but think it was rather rude to talk over a teacher, particularly on one's first day at school.

He mentioned this to Alfie once the feast had begun. Alfie, his mouth full of roast turkey, simply shrugged his shoulders. "She's probably just excited," he said, once he'd swallowed. "What was all that commotion about, anyway?"

"What commotion?"

"When Riley was Sorted. Everyone was whispering."

"You don't _know_ who the Carrows are?" Daisy butted in, leaning across to look at Alfie with wide eyes. "Come on, Alfie, you've got to have heard of them."

Alfie looked blank. "Muggleborn, remember?"

"Oh, right, I forgot." Daisy waved him off. "Well, the Carrows were Death Eater's back in the day. They were some of You-Know-Who's biggest supporters, and they taught at Hogwarts when the school was under his control. They used to torture students."

"And Riley's related to these people?" Alfie's eyes popped. "Wow, that must be tough on her."

"I can imagine," Daisy sniffed, before turning away and snapping, "Yes, what is it?" at a rather disgruntled looking Morna Clemmons, who had been trying to get her attention for several minutes.

"You wouldn't think that she'd be related to _torturers_ ," Alfie said to Teddy, who shook his head.

"I guess you never know." He paused and lowered his voice. "I just hope she won't be a bad influence on Vic."

Alfie looked up at Teddy rather suddenly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I don't quite know how to say this, but, well—"

Teddy sighed. "Out with it, Alfie."

"Aren't you being a little presumptuous?"

"Sorry?"

"You don't even know Riley yet—and from what we've, or at least from what I've seen of her, she actually seems pretty nice, regardless of what kind of family she comes from." Alfie shook his head. "I mean, I just thought you of all people would get that."

Teddy slowly began to feel guilty. Alfie was right—he had no right to judge Riley. He remembered, with a start, how at the beginning of last year, he had been determined not to let anyone know that he was the son of a werewolf, and an orphan, for fear of the stigma that would come with it. Why should he subject Riley to the same judgement that he had hoped to escape?

"I'm sorry," he said to Alfie. "I don't know what came over me. Of course you're right."

"Now _that_ I like to hear." Alfie winked at Teddy. "Lighten up. Enjoy the feast! Here!" He pushed a plate of sprouts towards him. "Eat!"

Teddy pushed the plate away, and Alfie's face fell. "You can't honestly expect me to enjoy the feast if I'm eating sprouts, can you?" Teddy teased. "Pass me the roast turkey, will you?"

Alfie brightened up again and handed Teddy a massive plate of turkey, assuring him that it was excellently cooked, as always.

Elsewhere, Daisy was talking loudly about Quidditch tryouts. The Shipkins family was slightly notorious when it came to Hufflepuff Quidditch; last year, Macey Longstone, team captain, had chosen Bella Watson, a now-sixth-year Prefect, as Seeker over Daisy's older sister Laura. Both Shipkins sisters had put up staunch, loud opposition to the decision all year, and had been rather smug when during the last match of the season, Bella dropped the Snitch, costing Hufflepuff the game.

"Of _course_ Laura's trying out for Seeker again," she said. "And she'll probably get it too—I don't see Macey Longstone letting that Bella Watson back on the team, not after the stunt she pulled last year."

"She didn't do it on purpose!" Alfie exclaimed.

Daisy sniffed. "Even if she didn't, she should have been watching herself. A good Seeker _never_ falls off her broom. I don't think Laura ever has."

Teddy sincerely doubted this; even the best fliers he knew—namely, his Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny—had fallen off their brooms at some point or another, but a whole year of dealing with Daisy had taught him that it was often best to simply nod and not argue the point, particularly when it was rather irrelevant anyway.

Alfie, however, did not seem to have learned this.

"A good Seeker may fall off her broom if she's focusing on the Snitch like she's supposed to," he pointed out. "In fact—"

He shut up quickly as Teddy kicked him under the table. Daisy glared at Alfie and swung her head around to talk loudly to Jonathan Trigg instead.

"What'd you do that for?" Alfie mumbled.

"There's no point in getting Daisy mad at us before term's even properly started," Teddy told him. "It's not like anything you say will change her mind about Bella anyway—you know how she is."

"I s'pose."

"So, are you still thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team?"

Alfie said something vaguely that Teddy couldn't hear.

"What?"

"I said I'm not sure." Alfie shrugged. "We'll see. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. It's a big commitment, time-wise. I guess I need to see whether I'm really up for it."

"Well, if it's anything, I think you'd be great." Teddy beamed at him. He would never forget how wonderfully Alfie had taken to the skies at their first-ever Flying lesson last year; he really was a natural, and Teddy just knew that he'd flourish in the strong Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

Alfie half-smiled. "Thanks, Teddy."

The rest of the feast went by surprisingly fast; before Teddy quite knew what was happening, he had finished his fifth helping of pudding, and the Prefects had gotten up to lead the first-years off to the Hufflepuff dormitory. Alfie had almost gone with them, before realising that he was now a second-year and was expected to know his way to the common room.

Their dormitory looked exactly how Teddy remembered it: it had that same earthy, warm feeling that Teddy loved, and was just as cosy and comfortable. As Teddy fell back onto the soft mattress of his four-poster bed, he smiled to himself. It felt like a homecoming.

.oOo.

Teddy and Alfie got to see Ella again briefly the next morning after breakfast. They quickly compared schedules and established that they would be sharing exactly the same classes that they had last year: Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. Although he knew that he'd see her often enough, Teddy still felt sad that he wouldn't be able to eat breakfast with Ella anymore. They'd had such a lovely time together at the first-year table; it was odd to think that they'd now be confined to their house tables. The other Hufflepuffs were lovely, but it just wasn't the same as eating with all the first—now second—years.

As they were leaving the Great Hall, Victoire ran to catch up with them. "Teddy!" she exclaimed, hugging him. "Hi Ella, hi Alfie! Did you guys see me yesterday? At the Sorting? I'm a Gryffindor—although obviously you know that now! Look, I even got a House Elf to sew the crest onto my robe last night!"

"Of course we saw!" Teddy said, hugging her back. "I do have to admit, I'm a little disappointed you're not with me, but Gryffindor's a great fit. Your dad must be so proud."

"I wrote him last night. Haven't heard anything yet, though, but I'm sure he'll write back as soon as he can. I'm disappointed I'm not with any of you, though!" She made a pouty-face. "I mean, I knew no one when I went to the Gryffindor table—Riley's in Slytherin, of course. Not really sure I saw that one coming, but, hey, who cares?"

Teddy was about to open his mouth to ask whether she'd spoken to Riley after the Sorting, but Alfie, obviously sensing that Teddy might say something he'd regret, beat him to it. "So did you make many friends last night, Victoire?"

"Yeah, everyone's _so_ nice, all the first-years are great," she gushed. "And even the second-years are fabulous. There was this one guy, Terence, he was so _lovely_ to me."

Teddy did a double-take, his eyes practically popping out of his head. Victoire and _Terence_? _Friends_? He couldn't even _imagine_ it—he didn't _want_ to imagine it.

Victoire took one look at him and started laughing. "Re _lax_ , Teddy, I'm just kidding. I know you don't like him—he's quite a prat, actually. Tried to hit on me, a bit."

"You're kidding!" It was Ella's turn to look shocked. "What did he say?"

"He asked me if I was part-Veela—you know, stupid stuff, just pick-up lines he probably got from some book. It shut him up when I told him I actually _was_ part-Veela."

"Honestly." Ella shook her head, disapprovingly.

"You should watch out for him," Teddy warned Victoire. "He's awful."

Victoire rolled her eyes. "I _know,_ Teddy—I don't like him very much either." She looked as if she was about to say something else, but became distracted when someone called to her.

"Hey, Victoire! You coming to Potions?"

Teddy followed Victoire's gaze to see a very enthusiastic Riley waving at her. She looked exactly the same as she had yesterday: same messy brown ponytail and gleaming green eyes.

"Just coming!" Victoire yelled back, before turning back to the trio. "I guess I should go—don't want to be late on my very first day!" She gave them a jaunty wave and ran off to join Riley, linking arms with her as they walked off to class.

"They seem to have gotten quite close rather quickly," Ella remarked, watching the two girls.

"I wonder if she knows about Riley's family, though," Teddy said, thinking out loud.

Ella gave him an odd look. "What, about them being Death Eaters? She _has_ to—everyone's been talking about it. Apparently there were two Carrows who used to teach at Hogwarts back during the war—they used to torture students. A Ravenclaw seventh-year was saying—apparently her older sister was here when it happened."

"Wow," Alfie murmured. "I wonder if anyone's talked to Riley about it yet."

Ella shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone had, but she doesn't seem bothered, does she? I wonder whether it was her parents who were Death Eaters."

"Me too," Teddy said. He knew that he shouldn't be so curious—after all, he was in a similar position to Riley last year and had tried desperately to hide the truth about his parentage. At least very few people had recognised his last name—or so he had thought. He wondered whether anyone _had_ actually talked to Riley; after all, he'd found out at the end of last year that several students in older years had known about his parents, but had never spoken to him about them.

It was funny, he thought, as he walked to Herbology with Alfie. Riley seemed so carefree—she was so enthusiastic and full of life. How could a girl like that come from a family weighed down by prejudice and darkness?

.oOo.

The first few days of classes went by rather quickly. It was nice to settle back into the Hogwarts lifestyle; Teddy needed time to readjust to his school schedule, which was much more hectic than his summer schedule, which had mostly involved lying around the house. Much to his surprise, the professors didn't give them _any_ homework at all for the first couple of days, but assured the second-years that their workload would soon increase dramatically.

Most of all, it was nice to catch up with his friends and classmates. While he'd been in frequent contact with Ella and Alfie all summer, there were others who, despite being good friends, he hadn't spoken to much over the holidays. Archie Quintin, his Scottish roommate, told him at length about his family's trip to France, while Jonathan Trigg waxed poetic about something called the FIFA World Cup. Teddy also spent a bit of time with his friends from other houses; he had a nice long chat with Madhuri during one of their morning breaks, and caught up with Clarissa Billings, a Gryffindor who he occasionally worked with in Herbology, over their plants in the Greenhouse.

There were, however, some people who Teddy was _not_ very happy to see again—most notably, Andrew Averdeen. The seventh-year Slytherin was now the only one of Ralph's cronies left at Hogwarts; the others had all graduated the previous year. After their chilling encounter at the farewell ceremony in June, Teddy had been torn. On one hand, he was all too keen to stay far away from Averdeen and his apparent enthusiasm for blood purity. But on the other hand, he was drawn to him out of curiosity. Did Averdeen know whether, and why, Ralph had cast that version of the Dark Mark in Knockturn Alley? Did he know where Ralph was, and what he was up to?

"I wish we could just sit him down and make him tell us what he knows," he said at lunch one day, while sitting outside with Ella and Alfie, far away from anyone else. "He's got to know _something_ or the other."

"He's not going to tell us anything, though," Alfie said, munching on a sandwich. "So there's no point in asking, is there?"

When Teddy didn't reply, Ella glanced up worriedly. "Please just stay away from him, Teddy. We don't want you getting hurt again this year."

"But what if he _knows_ something?"

"Like Alfie said, he's not going to tell us, and we can't make him."

"Isn't there a truth potion that we could use or something?"

"Veritaserum?" Ella laughed. "Teddy, you've got to be kidding. There's no way we could make that, or even get access to it. You've just got to accept that there's _nothing_ we can do."

"But don't you want to find out what Ralph's up to?"

"Of course I do! But we've got to do it in a more strategic way, without letting Averdeen know what we're doing. Didn't Ralph say that unless you left it alone, he'd hurt you—and us."

That shut Teddy up for a moment. "How do we do it in a more _strategic_ way, then?" he said finally.

Ella thought for a moment, before exhaling deeply. "I don't know. We'll figure it out."

Teddy glanced down, his fingers tracing circles on the grass. He couldn't help but be slightly irritated; he felt like they were under some sort of time-constraint, like whatever Ralph was planning was a bomb that could go off at any second. Their inactivity made him uncomfortable, for it wasn't as if he could trust that anyone else was doing anything. Every time he thought about the Aurors, he felt sick; although he trusted his uncle Harry more than anyone in the world—except maybe his grandmother—and he knew that he'd do his best, he didn't trust the Aurors handling the case at all. Auror Felix had seemed alright, but Auror Hammond had been simply horrible. How could he trust someone that biased?

"Yeah," he said quietly. "We'll figure it out."

All thoughts of Ralph and Andrew Averdeen, however, quickly flew out of his mind when, during Transfiguration, he was confronted by another person who he wasn't particularly keen on interacting with. Michael Goshawk.

Teddy had liked Michael Goshawk when they'd met on the boats coming up to Hogwarts last year. Although he was a little stuck-up and a bit of a show-off, Teddy had thought that he actually had a good heart. All that had changed when he'd supported Terence after he'd attacked Teddy about being the son of a werewolf. Teddy hadn't spoken to Michael since, and Michael hadn't done anything to apologise or make amends. Matilda had attempted to apologise on his behalf, but Teddy wasn't ready to forgive him unless he came to him himself.

Professor Ellacott had wanted to start the class off slowly, and so they'd spent the first week revising things that they had learned in their first year. Michael, however, had apparently forgotten several things over the summer holiday and was struggling to transform his beetle into a button.

Professor Ellacott _tsk_ -ed as Michael failed again. "This is why the Ministry should allow you to use magic over the summer—to _practice_ ," she said, more to herself than to anyone else. She glanced over at Teddy, who had managed to perfectly transfigure his beetle. "Mr. Lupin, help Mr. Goshawk, would you please?"

Before Teddy had the chance to protest, she'd walked off. He groaned inwardly and made a face at Alfie, who gave him a sympathetic smile and whispered, "Good luck, mate."

"I don't need your help," Michael snapped, as Teddy approached him reluctantly.

"Professor Ellacott said—"

"I don't care what Ellacott said, I'm fine. I'm a _Goshawk_. My grandmother _wrote_ The Standard Book of Spells."

 _That's not helping you right now_ , Teddy thought to himself, but staying silent, observing Michael's wand movements. After a few moments, he'd figured out what was wrong. "Look, if you just—"

"I _don't_ need your help, Lupin."

Teddy was starting to get rather angry. "But I can see what you're doing wrong! If you just let me—"

"Why don't you understand that I _don't need you_?"

"Why?" Teddy snapped. "You clearly need my help, Michael. What is it, do you just not want to admit that a half-breed is better than you?"

Michael looked up, shocked. Teddy recoiled slightly; he didn't know what had made him say it. All he knew was that he'd been so angry with Michael ever since last year, he'd been so angry that he'd trusted him and that trust had amounted to absolutely nothing.

"I didn't—that's not what I—" Michael stammered, but Teddy waved him off disgustedly.

"Forget it," he said. "Just forget it."

He stalked back to his own table, ignoring Alfie's questioning gaze.

"Everything okay?" Alfie asked.

"Peachy," Teddy grumbled in reply. "Goshawk's just being a prat, that's all. Nothing new."

He was done giving Michael chances. He'd spent too long hoping for an apology in vain; he knew now that he wasn't going to get one, and even if he did, it probably wouldn't mean anything. Michael clearly valued his friendship with Terence over his friendship with Teddy, and there was nothing Teddy could do to change that.

In his anger, he jabbed his beetle with his wand, causing the little bug to fall over onto its back, its legs in the air. Alfie, sending Teddy a cursory glance, righted it.

"There's no point in getting angry," he murmured.

"I know," Teddy replied, watching the beetle scuttle away from him in fear. "I know. Michael Goshawk shouldn't—doesn't matter. He doesn't matter at all. I don't care."

Alfie raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?" he asked quietly.

Teddy pretended he hadn't heard.


	6. Chapter 6: Misrepresentation (Wire)

**Chapter Six: Misrepresentation (Wire)**

Teddy had to admit that being a second-year was certainly rather odd. It was strange to think that there were people younger than him in Hogwarts, learning all the things that he'd learned last year when he still felt like a first-year, discovering new things. And yet he still knew more than the newbies, and was actually in a position to _help_ them. He'd shown several of them to their classrooms on numerous occasions, and was now sitting in the Hufflepuff Common Room helping Maisie Littlefinger, a new member of the House, with her Potions homework.

"You're so smart," she said, looking up at him with huge brown eyes, as he pointed out errors in her formulas. "How are you so smart?"

Teddy laughed nervously. "I'm not really that smart—you should see my friend, Ella, in Ravenclaw. She's _super_ smart."

"I'm not very smart," Maisie said, a little despondently.

Teddy's heart went out to her. "I'm sure you are, really. The first couple of months are difficult for everyone—getting used to Hogwarts can be really hard, and everyone struggles, even if they don't show it."

"Not everyone—there's this girl in my Herbology class who seems to know everything, and she's super confident, too. Her name's Victoire—I wish I could be more like her."

Teddy smiled to himself. "You know, I'm sure Victoire would be more than happy to help you out in Herbology if you asked her to. She's really friendly, I promise."

"Oh, I know." Maisie brightened. "We've had lunch together a few times, and she's really nice, but she has this friend, Riley. They're kind of like a fearsome twosome, you know, they're always together and they're such good friends. It's hard not to feel like an outsider when I'm around them. I wish I had really good friends like that, you know?"

Teddy resisted the urge to groan. Of _course_ Victoire and Riley were still hanging out; he kept seeing them together everywhere, and it always seemed like Victoire was running after Riley. Many a time had she suddenly stopped in the middle of a conversation with Teddy to run over to Riley, who she'd just spotted in a lively discussion with some other student—often other Slytherins, Teddy had noted. It irritated Teddy to no end, but he didn't know how to bring it up when talking to Victoire. She seemed to idolise Riley.

"It's not even that I'm that worried Riley's a bad influence on her," Teddy told Alfie the next day, as they were walking out of the Great Hall to sit under their favourite oak tree and eat their lunch.

Alfie gave him a look. "Really?"

Teddy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm a _little_ worried. But it's more than that—it just seems like she's the one who's doing everything for Riley, and Riley's doing nothing back. Do you know what I mean?"

"Kind of. You think that the friendship doesn't go both ways."

"Exactly. And that's not good, right?"

"No," Alfie said. Teddy couldn't help but notice that there was an odd quality to his voice, as if he was reminiscing about something or the other. "No, it's not. My mum always told me that you shouldn't be in a friendship where you're doing all the work."

" _Exactly_ ," Teddy repeated, feeling a little triumphant. "So, if Vic's chasing after Riley, that's not healthy!"

Alfie looked at Teddy a little doubtfully. "Yeah, but are we sure that she is chasing after Riley?"

Teddy stared back at Alfie, dumfounded. "We're talking about the same people, right? You've seen how Vic is, haven't you? She'll just cut off mid-sentence and run off when she sees Riley! I don't think I've ever seen her with anyone else in her year—they're always together! And—what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Alfie bit his lip. "Look," he started. "I'm going to say something, and I really hope you won't be angry with me."

"Alfie—" Teddy closed his eyes in exasperation. "I won't be angry."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

Alfie opened his mouth and then quickly shut it again. "Nope. Forget it. I'm not going to say it." He quickened his pace and walked ahead of Teddy, heading determinedly for the oak tree. Teddy had to jog to catch up with him.

"Alfie! Come on, spit it out!"

"You'll be mad!"

"I'll only be mad if you won't tell me."

'Fine." They had reached the oak tree, and Alfie collapsed onto the grass, his back resting up against the tree trunk. Teddy sat down opposite him and looked at him expectantly. "I think you're jealous."

"What? I—"

"Just hear me out. You and Vic have been best friends for ages, and now that she's got another friend—"

"But I want her to have another friend!" Teddy interrupted. Alfie wasn't making any sense—he clearly had no idea what was going on in Teddy's mind. "I want her to have many _other_ _friends_! I do! It's important that she has other friends."

"I know," Alfie replied patiently. "But at the same time, you don't want her to spend _all_ her time with Riley. You feel like she's abandoning you in favour of someone who you don't really like."

Teddy was silent for a moment. Alfie did kind of have a point—he didn't like the fact that Victoire seemed to value her relationship with Riley over her relationship with him. "I don't _not_ like Riley, though," he mumbled.

"Maybe not." Alfie shrugged. "But you don't really know her that well, do you? So you don't know how to feel about her."

Teddy shook his head in amazement. "When did you get so…so…perceptive?"

Alfie turned bright pink. "Who knows, mate? Ella's probably been rubbing off on my subconscious. She's turning me into the male version of her."

At that, Teddy shuddered. Ella was lovely, but one of her was certainly enough. "Please, stay you," he told Alfie earnestly. "And now, tell me, what do I do?"

"What, to keep me me? Well, if my newfound perceptiveness is all Ella's fault, then we'll have to—"

"No, silly." Teddy rolled his eyes dramatically. No matter how perceptive he might get, there was no changing Alfie. Teddy had a feeling that he'd always stay the same—and for that, he was glad. "About _Riley_."

"What about—oh! Well, I think you should get to know her better."

"How do I do that? It'd be a bit weird for me to just randomly go up to her and be like, 'Hi! Remember me? We met on the train! Let's be friends!'"

"Yeah, please don't do that, that'd be horrendous." Alfie looked absolutely appalled. "I don't know— it'll have to be more subtle. Honestly, I'm not very good at these kinds of things—maybe you should ask Ella."

"Speaking of Ella, where is she? I thought she was supposed to meet us here."

"She said something about going to the library first. Said she had to see someone called Meezy."

"Who's Meezy?"

Alfie shrugged. "Don't ask me."

"I'm—here!" a breathless voice said from behind them. Alfie and Teddy turned around to see a very red-faced Ella running towards them. She grabbed onto the tree for stability and keeled forward, breathing heavily as she tried to recover.

"What happened to _you_?" Alfie said, looking Ella up and down incredulously.

"Sorry…been…running."

"Yes, we can see that. Why?"

"Victoire—"

"What about her?" Teddy said.

"She fell off her broom during Flying, just before lunch. I just found out—thought you'd want to know."

"What?" Teddy sprung up instantly, his heart thudding. What if something had happened to Victoire? He couldn't imagine what Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill would say. "Is she okay?"

"She's in the hospital wing—" Ella began.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on, let's go, let's go!"

He ran off in the direction of the hospital wing, Alfie and Ella trailing behind him at some distance—Ella hadn't had enough time to catch her breath properly, and was struggling to keep up. Teddy didn't even notice; his mind was completely occupied by the thought of Victoire and how badly injured she might be, and how he was supposed to look out for her, and make sure that this kind of thing didn't happen. He couldn't let her be all alone in the hospital wing, with only Madame Pomfrey for company as she recovered from her wounds.

As it turned out, things weren't as bad as he thought they were. He burst into the hospital wing, practically yelling, "Victoire!" and almost got thrown out by a very angry looking Madame Pomfrey.

"Goodness gracious _me_ ," she said, emphatically. "Mr. Lupin, I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour—people are sleeping!"

"I'm sorry, Madame," Teddy said, as Alfie and Ella came in through the door behind him. "I just heard that a friend of mine, Victoire, Victoire Weasley, was in here. I was worried—is she okay?"

"Miss Weasley will be just fine," the matron said, gesturing for the trio to follow her as she led them towards a bed draped in curtains. "She only suffered a slight fracture to her wrist—nothing I can't fix in a few hours. She's just getting some rest."

"We just didn't want her to be alone," Teddy said.

"She isn't." Madame Pomfrey pulled back the curtains to reveal Victoire sitting up in bed, her blonde hair messy and her skin paler than normal. Her left wrist was bandaged up and lying limply on her lap. Sitting on a chair next to her bedside was a small figure with dark hair, a Slytherin scarf hanging loosely around her neck. Riley.

"Teddy! And Alfie and Ella too!" Victoire exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd come and see me—I'm fine, honestly, you don't have to worry."

Teddy opened his mouth to reply, but Madame Pomfrey cut him off. "I'm afraid some of you are going to have to leave—I really can't have so many visitors in the wing at once; it'll disturb the other patients." She looked at Riley. "Perhaps, Miss Carrow, you might like to go and get some lunch?"

Riley met Madame Pomfrey's gaze with steely determination. "I'm not hungry. And I'm staying."

"But you've been here since Miss Weasley came in. Perhaps—"

"That's alright," Ella said quickly, as Riley narrowed her eyes menacingly at the Matron. "Alfie and I will leave. We just wanted to make sure Victoire was okay. We'll see you later, Teddy." She took Alfie's arm and practically dragged him out of the wing, before Teddy could protest. Riley looked quite satisfied, as did Madame Pomfrey, who left the three students alone.

"What happened, Vic?" Teddy asked. "Ella said you fell off your broom."

Victoire waved her uninjured hand dismissively. "It's nothing. Everyone's making a big deal out of nothing. I just lost control, slipped off and landed on my hand. I _told_ Madame Hooch I was fine, but she insisted I come here, and now Madame Pomfrey's not letting me leave."

"At least you get to miss History of Magic this afternoon," Riley pointed out. "That's the most useless class of them all, and it's so boring. Binns should've just stayed dead. Maybe then they'd have removed it from the curriculum."

"That's not very nice," Teddy snapped, almost instinctively. When Victoire looked at him, evidently shocked at his harsh tone, he immediately felt bad, and softened. "Sorry."

"You know, Riley insisted on coming with me after I fell off," Victoire said softly. "She's been here the whole time."

"And I don't intend on leaving either," Riley said. Her lips were tightly clenched together, giving her a look of extreme resoluteness. "Not until you're better."

"Madame Pomfrey'll throw you out before then—she'll insist you go to class."

"I'd like to see her try." Riley's lips curled upwards into a twisted smile.

Teddy stood watching the exchange between the girls, slightly surprised, but also slightly happy. He knew that if he could, if he had been there, he would have taken Victoire to the hospital wing and he wouldn't have left her side. That was simply what friends do; it was what Ella had done for him last year when he'd accidentally flown into a Quidditch goalpost during one of his lessons. Suddenly, Victoire's friendship with Riley seemed a whole lot less one-sided than he'd initially believed. Riley didn't appear to be using Victoire—instead, it was as if she actually cared.

Alfie, he realised, had been right. He really didn't know Riley well enough; if he'd been asked an hour ago, he'd never have expected her to act in such a caring manner towards Victoire. He thought she was just keeping Victoire around until she found better friends, but he'd been wrong.

It was only once Madame Pomfrey shoved him out of the Hospital Wing and towards his afternoon Potions class that he realised that being wrong scared him.

He'd thought that he was immune to prejudice; he'd been battling against it for so long that he never thought that he himself would be prejudiced in any way. And yet he had been—he'd made judgements about Riley and her relationship with Victoire without stopping to think what those judgements were based on. And the truth was that they weren't based on anything but his own, biased beliefs about what someone who came from a family of Death Eaters must be like.

He was ashamed of himself.

Unable to get rid of the guilt plaguing him, he was distracted all through Potions, accidentally adding ingredients in the wrong order and measuring out incorrect quantities. His potion turned a bright purple when he accidentally added lizard scales instead of crushed moonstone, and began to bubble rather violently; thankfully, Ella was as observant as ever, and quickly fixed it for him before Slughorn could notice.

"Why is everyone so out of it today?" she grumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"I've just had to fix Alfie's potion, too. Honestly, you boys." She shook her head disapprovingly as she returned to her own station.

Alfie wasn't very good at potions, but he seemed to be even more lost than usual. He was floundering around, knocking various ingredients into his cauldron, and looking rather red-faced and flustered. Teddy wondered why he was suddenly perturbed; he'd been so calm during lunch. Something must have happened, and he resolved to talk to him about it after class. After all, he thought, as Alfie's potion began to emit dark grey puffs of smoke, distracting him now would likely do more harm than good.

But as it turned out, he never got a chance to talk to him. As soon as Slughorn dismissed the class, Alfie practically bolted from the dungeon, leaving Ella and Teddy incredibly startled and incredibly confused in his wake.

"I didn't know Alfie was training for the Hogwarts marathon," Ella said, mildly.

"Where's he off to in such a rush?"

"Goodness knows." Ella shrugged. "S'pose he'll tell us when he wants to."

"Yeah," Teddy said, but he still felt slightly unsettled. Alfie wasn't the kind of person to keep secrets; in fact, Teddy didn't think he ever had.

Ella elbowed Teddy gently to catch his attention. "I'm sure it's nothing—we'll see him later at dinner, and if he doesn't tell us, we can ask him about it, okay? Let's go do some homework."

"Actually, can we visit Victoire first?" Teddy said, internally shuddering at the thought of doing homework. They didn't have very much of it at the moment—in fact, Teddy was fairly sure that he'd completed everything apart from an Astronomy worksheet—so putting it off for a few hours wouldn't do too much harm.

Ella, although rather grumpy at the prospect of having to delay finishing her homework, seemed to understand Teddy's desire to see his friend, and agreed to accompany him to the hospital wing. When they arrived, they were pleasantly surprised to hear that Victoire's wrist had healed, and she had already been sent back to her dormitory.

"Now we can do homework!" Ella said happily, as they left the wing.

Teddy groaned. "Why are you _excited_ about _homework_? Those two things don't go together."

"They don't for most people, but they do for me. Do you still have that Transfiguration essay to do?"

"No, I finished it."

"Oh!" Ella sounded a little surprised; Teddy supposed it was because he was rarely ahead of her when it came to work. "Well, I suppose that's good—you can help me, then!"

It wasn't very late in the afternoon, but Teddy noticed a distinct chill in the air as they walked past the entrance to the Forbidden Forest on their way back up to the castle. There was a slight breeze drifting through the trees, carrying the lilting scent of flowers and grass with it.

"Do you hear that?" Ella said, suddenly.

"It's probably just the trees," Teddy said dismissively.

"You didn't even stop to listen. Seriously, do you hear that?"

Teddy strained his ears, trying to hear what Ella could. It was only after they'd continued walking for a few moments that he heard voices—or rather, one voice that got louder and louder as they continued up towards the school. It was clearly female, and seemed to be barking orders.

"Alright then, line up in a row! No, don't get off your brooms—stay on them! This is Quidditch! We'll be doing Quaffle drills."

"That's Macey Longstone!" Teddy told Ella. "They must be doing the Hufflepuff Quidditch trials—shall we go see?"

"Oh, do we have to? I'm a Ravenclaw, Macey won't like me being there. And we have _homework_."

Ignoring her protests, Teddy grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the Quidditch pitch. He'd never seen Quidditch tryouts before. Although he hadn't tried out for the team this year, he figured that he might want to at some stage; it would probably be useful to get a general idea of what trials were like, and the activities they consisted of so that he could practice. After all, the players on the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team were very strong; he'd need to put in significant amounts of time and effort in order to match their standard.

Macey's voice got louder and louder as they neared the pitch. Even from a distance, Teddy could tell that she was really giving everyone a workout; she was known for being strict, and she was obviously attempting to see how the players worked under pressure. By the time Ella and Teddy reached the bleachers, she'd already had the players run through at least three separate drills.

Although she was tough, it was impossible to say that Macey wasn't encouraging. "You're all doing very well," she shouted at the figures in the air. "Keep up the good work! Hufflepuff's going to have a stellar team this year, with players like you lot!"

"Look, there's Bella," Ella whispered to Teddy, pointing at a lithe, blonde figure zooming around near the goalposts. "And there's Laura." She pointed at a shorter redhead nearby. "I wonder how those two are doing."

As if on cue, Macey yelled, "Come on, Shipkins, pay attention! Watson, nice catch—keep it up!"

"Looks as if Bella's not doing too badly," Teddy commented. Ella nodded slowly in agreement.

"Jones, watch the right hoop, you're paying too much attention to the left and centre. And Hayes—you're doing fine, don't stop, just keep an eye out for Bludgers, you barely dodged that last one."

"Hang on, did she say Hayes?" Ella turned to Teddy, stunned. "As in, _Alfie_?"

"Can't be." Teddy shook his head. "He hasn't spoken about trying out since I asked him at the start of year feast—he said he wasn't sure back then."

"But there aren't any other people called Hayes in Hufflepuff, are there?"

"No," Teddy replied slowly. Ella had a point.

"And that looks like Alfie there, look, in the Muggle clothing." Ella pointed to a figure clad in a loose sweater and track pants who was passing the Quaffle to another player. It certainly did look like Alfie; although Teddy couldn't make out his face, the player was of the same height and build as Alfie, and had the same messy brown hair. "This makes so much sense—no wonder he was distracted in Potions, and no wonder he rushed off afterwards! He had to get to tryouts!"

It made sense, but Teddy couldn't help but wonder why Alfie hadn't told them about it. It wasn't as if they wouldn't support him; on the contrary, Teddy thought Alfie was a brilliant flier, and had always made it a point to encourage him. He was a little hurt that Alfie had felt like he needed to keep this a secret from him; after all, he could've helped! He could have given Alfie tips, helped him practice…if only he'd known.

"I hope he gets it," Ella said. "Whatever position he's trying out for, he deserves it. Don't you think, Teddy?"

"Yeah," Teddy said, a little absentmindedly.

Ella gave him a look.

"What?"

"Come on, Teddy. Don't you want to show a little more enthusiasm? This is obviously a big deal for Alfie."

"Of course," Teddy said, shaking his head. "Sorry, I was just…distracted. I really do hope he gets a position."

They stayed to watch the entirety of the tryouts. Alfie was rather good; Macey had him play different positions, and he made an excellent Chaser, Keeper and Seeker. The Beater's bat, however, was a little too heavy for him, and, unable to control it properly, he almost hit himself in the face. Macey quickly switched him back to playing Chaser, and he scored three times in quick succession against Faye Keys, who had been Keeper for the team last year. When playing Seeker, he managed to catch the Snitch rather swiftly, but when Macey had him compete with Bella and Laura to see who could catch the little golden ball first, he seemed a little off-kilter, and Bella managed to snatch the Snitch out from under his nose.

After what seemed like hours, Macey let the players go, promising that she'd announce the team within the coming days. Ella and Teddy ran over to the player's exit to catch Alfie. He was already flushed and sweaty, but turned a bright shade of red when he saw them.

"What're you doing here?" he mumbled, ducking his head.

"We saw the Quidditch trials and wanted to come check it out," Teddy explained. "And then we saw you, and decided to stay." Pushing any hurt he still felt to the back of his mind, he smiled widely and said, sincerely, "You were great out there, Alfie."

"Macey'd be silly not to give you a spot on the team," Ella added.

Alfie blushed even more. "You guys are just being nice," he said. "I wasn't that good."

"Don't underplay yourself!" Ella exclaimed. "You were _so_ good. Honestly, I wish I could fly like that."

"Why didn't you tell us though?" Teddy said, unable to keep his thoughts in any longer. Ella shot him an angry look, but he pretended not to notice. "We could've helped you practice."

"I dunno." Alfie shrugged. "I just…well…I didn't…I _don't_ think I'm actually going to end up getting a spot on the team, and—" Both Ella and Teddy opened their mouths to intervene, but he held up a hand, stopping them. "No, let me finish. I just felt like if I told everyone—including the two of you—that I was trying out, and then didn't get in…well, it'd just be embarrassing, you know?"

"You can tell us anything," Teddy said staunchly. "And we won't care."

"I know, but I was still embarrassed. You understand, don't you?"

"Of course we do," Ella said warmly. Teddy wasn't sure he did. How could Alfie think that they'd judge him when he'd explicitly told him how wonderful he was at flying so many times? He knew that Alfie wasn't very confident in his abilities, but still—surely he trusted Teddy and didn't think that he was just talking for the sake of listening to his own voice.

"Teddy?"

"Huh?"

"Are…you…um." Alfie looked rather uncomfortable. "You're not mad, are you? I know we said we wouldn't keep secrets, but I was just embarrassed."

"I'm not mad," Teddy said truthfully. "I just don't completely understand—Alfie, I've _told_ you you're a great flier."

"I know, but you're my _friend_. It's like when my mum says I'm good at something. I know she means well, but that doesn't mean that I believe her."

"Alfie," Teddy said. "As a friend, I promise I will never lie to you. If that means telling you that you're awful at something because you are awful at something, I will do that. You need to trust me."

"I do, I do!" Alfie's face was crestfallen, and Teddy couldn't help but feel awful. What was wrong with him? Why did he keep messing up—first with Riley, and all his presumptions about her, and now with Alfie? Today was clearly not his day. "I'm sorry, mate, really, I should've told you."

" _I_ don't think there's any need for _you_ to apologise," Ella said, sending a rather haughty glare in Teddy's direction.

"No, really, it's fine—"

"No, Ella's right." Teddy sighed. "This isn't something we—I – should be making a big deal of. I understand why you didn't tell us. _I'm_ sorry for being such an idiot."

"No, _I'm_ sorry—"

"Okay, you're both sorry!" Ella interrupted. "You're actually both getting on my nerves now, so can we just stop? Please? This is stupid."

Both boys stopped and looked at one another.

"It is quite stupid, isn't it?" Teddy said, softly.

"We're making a big deal out of nothing," Alfie replied.

"Finally, they see sense!" Ella exclaimed. "Come on, let's go do homework. That'll take our minds off this."

It was a rather awkward walk back up to the castle, but after a few hours of work, things quickly solved themselves. Teddy was glad; he loved Alfie and Ella, and felt like an idiot for making things uncomfortable between them. All they needed was a few hours of quiet thinking to go back to their usual selves, the whole debacle behind them. Quidditch was only briefly discussed at dinner, and when Daisy mentioned that Laura had seen Alfie try out, Teddy was the first one to assert that Alfie would be an excellent addition to the Quidditch team.

Ella's irritation with the two boys had clearly dissipated; she walked back up to their Common Room with them, and they spent a couple of hours playing Exploding Snap before she decided she should probably leave before someone realised she wasn't a Hufflepuff. Teddy was actually rather astonished that no one had ever thrown Ella out of the Hufflepuff Common Room; she'd been to visit them a few times, and though she'd disguised herself slightly by changing the colour of her tie and the design of the crest on her robes, it was fairly unlikely that no one had realised that she wasn't a Hufflepuff. He wondered if maybe the Prefects had realised, but just hadn't said anything.

It had been a long day, and although he was happy to sink into bed at lights out, he found himself fidgeting, unable to sleep. The other boys didn't seem to be having the same troubles; Jonathan Trigg was curled up in a foetal position, as was Matthew Rivers. Both Archie Quintin and Alfie were breathing very heavily, letting out little snores every now and then.

Rolling onto his side, Teddy reached out and very quietly opened the drawer of his bedside table. It took him a few moments of rummaging around in it to latch on to what he was searching for; holding his breath, he delicately extracted his Marauder's Map.

He hadn't really looked at it since school had started; he'd meant to show it to Ella and Alfie, who he was sure would find it fascinating, but he'd wanted to keep it to himself for a little while. It was odd, he thought, as he held it in his hands, how personal it felt. He had his father's old clothes, shoes and books, but he didn't have very many things that would have really meant something to his father. This map felt different.

After checking to make sure his roommates were definitely asleep, he brought the map up to his lips and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

He watched with awe and fascination as black, ink lines began to spread across the page, drawing an intricate map of the castle. Little dots with decorated the spaces between the lines, tiny names written next to them in perfect calligraphy. There he was, Teddy Lupin, in the Hufflepuff dormitory, with Alfie Hayes and his other rooommates. The Hufflepuff Common Room was empty, as was most of the Castle; he guessed it must be rather late at night, and everyone was either asleep, or trying to fall asleep. There were a couple dots in the corridors, but they appeared to belong mainly to ghosts. Teddy read each name, fascinated. _Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington_ —that must be Nearly-Headless Nick. _Helena Ravenclaw_ —that was the Grey Lady; he remembered Ella mentioning that she was Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. _Balthazar Blackwell_ —he wasn't sure who that could be, he'd never heard of him.

Supposing he must be just another ghost, Teddy moved onto the next name. It belonged to a dot in the Hogwarts' library; he wondered whether the library had its' very own ghost—he certainly wouldn't be surprised. But as he read it, his blood turned to ice.

 _Ralph Lewis_.

It couldn't be right.

Teddy watched the dot move around inside the library. He tried to visualise where Ralph would be standing, but realised he didn't exactly know the library well enough—if only Ella was around. He had a fairly good idea of where Ralph would be, though.

The Restricted Section was the only place that made sense. It was the only place that contained information that Ralph would risk breaking into Hogwarts for.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had jumped out of his bed and run out of his dormitory. He didn't even stop to wake up Alfie and tell him what was going on; the only thing he was worried about was Ralph, what he might find in the Restricted Section, and what he would do with that. He'd been party to Ralph's schemes before; he wouldn't just sit back this time. It was clear that whatever the Aurors were doing to investigate Ralph, to try and stop him—if they even _were_ trying—wasn't working. It was up to Teddy.

He ran through the Hufflepuff Common Room and out into the corridor, only pausing for a moment to orient himself and figure out the fastest way to the library. He was just about to round the corner that would take him to the staircase, when something made him skid to a halt, and press himself against the wall.

Voices.

Barely daring to breathe or move, he listened intently. There were definitely two people, and they were speaking in low tones, as if they were exchanging secrets that they didn't want anyone else to hear. He couldn't recognise the voices—they were speaking too quietly – and reached for his map, figuring that it would tell them who they were. And yet the map wasn't in his pocket, nor was it anywhere else on his person; like an idiot, he'd gone and left it in his dormitory.

Cursing silently, he strained to make out what the people were saying.

"… What we _do_ know is that you know things that could be of use to us," one voice that sounded distinctly male was saying.

"I don't know anything, and even if I do, I wouldn't tell you." This one was higher-pitched and definitely female. Teddy couldn't help but notice that the girl—whoever she was—had a barely-discernable nervous tremble in her voice. "I don't want to help you."

At this, the boy scoffed. "You're being stupid. Think of the great things you could do."

"They're not great things. They're terrible."

"That's what you say now."

"That's what I'll always say."

"Look, _little girl_." The boy sounded menacing now; a shudder ran down Teddy's back, and he reached instinctively towards his pajama pocket, his hand clutching onto the cold wood of his wand that, thankfully, he'd had enough sense to grab off his bedside table in his haste. He didn't want to intervene— it would lead to all sorts of odd questions about why he was out of bed, and he didn't want to have to explain what he'd seen on the map—but he knew that he would have to if it seemed like the girl was in danger. "You don't know anything, not about us, not about what we're doing. I'm giving you a chance to do something great here, to contribute to something that matters, and you…you're wasting your opportunity."

"Leave me alone."

There was a moment's silence and Teddy tightened his grip on his wand.

"Fine," the boy said at last. "I will. Some space and time, perhaps, will do you good. Just keep thinking about what I've said. Think about whether you want to make a difference. Think about what you could do with us."

Footsteps sounded, and Teddy, holding his breath, darted back down the corridor and tapped out the rhythm on the barrels as quietly and quickly as he possibly could. Once he was safe inside the Hufflepuff Common Room, he exhaled deeply.

What had he just overheard? Who was the boy, and whom had he been talking to? And what was Ralph doing breaking into the Hogwarts' library?

He knew he wasn't going to get any answers tonight, and reluctantly trudged back up to his dormitory. His Marauder's Map lay on his bed, undisturbed; the dot bearing Ralph's name had vanished off the parchment.

He was certainly going to have a _lot_ to tell Alfie and Ella the next morning.


	7. Chapter 7: Glimmer (Diamond)

**Chapter Seven: Glimmer (Diamond)**

"This is absolutely amazing," Ella marvelled, running her hands over the Marauder's Map laid out in front of her. "I didn't even know that something like this was _possible_. I must admit, when you told me about what you saw last night, Teddy, I was half-convinced that you must have been dreaming, but this…this is _amazing_."

"Thanks, mate," Teddy said, mock-offended. It was just after their afternoon classes; they were sitting outside, under their favourite oak tree, and Teddy had just finished telling Alfie and Ella all about what he had seen the previous night. He'd brought the Marauder's Map to show them.

"Oh, you know what I mean." Ella waved her hand dismissively, still focused on the map. "Everything sounded rather convincing, but an enchanted map that shows the locations and movements of everyone in Hogwarts? It didn't seem logically possible."

"But it is!" Alfie exclaimed. He had believed Teddy instantly, and upon seeing the Map, his eyes had grown wide with awe. "Look." He pointed to three clustered dots. "There we are! This is amazing!"

"It is, isn't it?" Teddy had to agree—he found it difficult to believe that his father had actually been involved in creating such a wonderful object, but then again, his father was supposed to have been rather clever. A sudden pang of sadness hit his stomach as he wished, not for the first time, that he could've had a chance to learn from him, to find out what he knew.

But thanks to the movement that Ralph was so eager to support, he never would.

"As much as I hate to distract you both," he said, taking the map from under Ella's nose. "We need to talk about what I saw."

"So there was a person in the corridor threatening someone else, right?" Ella said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "But you didn't see either one of them?"

Teddy shook his head. "I only know that one was definitely male, and the other was female."

"And the boy thought the girl knew something, and wanted her help." She was silent for a moment, her chin resting on her palm. "Are you sure you didn't recognise either of their voices? The boy couldn't have been Ralph?"

Teddy shook his head again. "They sounded familiar, I think, but I wasn't able to place them. The boy definitely wasn't Ralph, that's for sure." He'd spent too much time with him to _not_ recognise his voice when he heard it.

Alfie sighed. "I don't see what we can do about them—hopefully _they_ won't give us any trouble. We've got enough on our plate, what with Ralph sneaking around and breaking into the library. What do you think he wanted?"

"That's not hard," Teddy said. "He must have wanted to get into the Restricted Section for some dark reason—if he just wanted a normal book, he could have walked in in broad daylight. I'm sure the Hogwarts library has some kind of allowance if former students want to borrow books."

"Hang on, I thought he couldn't get into the Restricted Section. Isn't that why he needed us—well, you—last year?"

"He might've figured out a way," Teddy said, not wanting his theory to be wrong. "After all, this is Ralph we're talking about. I wouldn't put it past him."

"No, neither would I," Ella said, thoughtfully. "Do you think he wanted to get _The New Age of the Dark Arts_ , then? Just like he did last year?"

Teddy thought about this for a few moments. Something about it didn't seem right. "I don't think so," he said, slowly. "He needed it for the incantation for the Dark Mark, right? He got what he wanted from it."

"But there could've been something else in it," Alfie suggested.

Teddy shrugged. "I s'pose so. If there was only some way we could actually find out."

"That's impossible." Ella shook her head. "There wouldn't be any record. I know Madame Pince is meticulous, but even she can't track books taken from the library in the middle of the night by ex-students."

"Maybe we could get the library catalogue, sneak in and then cross-check to see which books are missing?"

Ella stared at him over the rim of her glasses. "You're kidding, right? That would take _hours_."

"We could narrow it down to the Dark Arts section," Alfie chipped in.

"Do you _know_ how many books are in there?" She sounded incredulous, as if she could believe how stupid the boys were being. "It wouldn't work, even then. We'd get caught."

"Isn't there a magical way to do it? There's a magical way to do everything, I'm pretty sure cross-checking items off a list would be a piece of cake."

"Maybe, but I don't know how to do it."

"But you could find out!" Alfie batted his eyelashes at her. "Come on Ells—"

"Don't call me Ells!"

"You know you want to!"

"Says who?"

"When does _Ella Anderson_ turn down the opportunity to find out something new?"

Ella actually stopped to consider this for a few moments. Teddy watched her nervously. Sure, even if she decided against it, he and Alfie would probably be able to figure out a way to cross-check the books in the Restricted Section with the library catalogue – it wasn't as if they were particularly lacking in research skills—but it would probably take them twice as long. Ella was nothing if not efficient, and she looked as if she was about to agree.

"No."

"What? Why?" Teddy exclaimed.

"Because we need to leave Ralph alone," she said. "He's dangerous, Teddy, you said that yourself, and we don't need to get more embroiled in this whole mess than we already are. Leave it to the Aurors."

"You can't be serious! You saw those Aurors that came to my house—you're really going to trust them with something this big? They won't even believe us if we go and tell them about what I saw on the map."

"We can't get involved with this," Ella said, but she didn't sound so certain anymore.

Teddy, sensing weakness, pressed on. "Let's say we forget all about Ralph and move on with our lives. What'll happen if the next time we hear about him, he's on the front cover of the Daily Prophet because he's claimed responsibility for some big attack on muggleborns—"

At this, Alfie shuddered, but Teddy continued. "—and everyone's wondering how no one managed to catch onto the fact that he was up to something, how no one managed to stop him. It's not like they'll know that we knew something, of course they won't, but _we'll_ know that we could've done something. And we didn't. Can you imagine what that would feel like?"

Ella paused for a second. Teddy watched her intently; he could see creases of worry, of fear appearing on her face. "But that won't happen," she mumbled. "Will it?"

"I don't know, Ella. But I don't think we should take the risk."

"Remember, this is the same person who landed Teddy in hospital last year," Alfie said. "Who knows what he's capable of?"

Ella bit her lip, hard, and looked uncertainly at the two boys, her gaze flitting between them. Finally, she nodded. "Fine. Fine. I get it. We have to do something."

"And cross-checking the library catalogue will tell us what Ralph wanted, which might give us clues as to what he's up to!" Alfie said triumphantly, before pausing suddenly. "Wait, the library does have a catalogue, doesn't it?"

Ella smacked his arm. "Of course it does, you idiot. But I have a better idea."

But she didn't tell them what it was. Instead, she got up and motioned for the boys to follow her. They looked at one another and shrugged in unison; it was rare for Ella to explain what she was up to. She seemed to think that everyone was on the same wavelength as her, and Teddy and Alfie had gotten quite used to this by now. They followed her as she marched across the grounds, darted through corridors, and finally, entered the library and walked straight up to Madame Pince's desk.

"This is her great idea?" Alfie whispered incredulously to Teddy. "Asking _Pince_ whether she can help us?"

"Shut up, she'll hear you," Teddy whispered back. Although he had no idea what Ella was up to, he trusted her enough to be fairly confident that she wasn't about to ask Pince if she was aware that someone had broken into her precious library.

"Hello, Madame Pince," Ella whispered brightly. The old librarian looked up from the book in front of her, and Teddy felt himself shudder ever so slightly. Madame Pince terrified him; he'd never actually spoken to her, but she was always so omnipresent in the library, a silent figure with perfect posture and a stern, wrinkled face. It didn't help that he'd broken into the Restricted Section last year; he didn't like to think about what she might do if she found out.

"Miss Anderson. What can I help you with?"

Teddy hadn't realised that Pince actually knew the student's names; although, she probably just knew Ella because Ella spent practically all of her waking moments in the library.

"I was just wondering if we could speak to Meezy for a few moments."

"Meezy?" Pince pushed her glasses up her nose and peered at the trio suspiciously. Teddy did his best to look completely innocent and hide his utter confusion. Who in Merlin's name was Meezy?

"Yes." Ella nodded. "We're—er – working on a special, extra-credit project on the different kinds of house elves, and we were wondering if we might be able to speak to Meezy—you know, because there are so few books on library elves, and we just wanted to get her opinion on a few things."

"A special project, you say? For which class? You don't take Care of Magical Creatures just yet."

"It's for Herbology. Professor Longbottom says the two disciplines are very closely related."

Teddy was amazed at the ease with which the lies were flowing out of Ella's mouth; he supposed she'd thought about what to say on the way up to the library, but _still_. He would have stuttered and stumbled all the way through Pince's interrogation, while she seemed to be handling herself excellently.

Pince surveyed them for a few heart-wrenching moments before nodding. "Alright. Just for a few moments, mind you, she needs to get on with her work. She's in the Records Room at the back of the Transfiguration section."

Ella smiled widely. "Thank you _ever_ so much, Madame Pince." She sauntered off, leaving Alfie and Teddy to grin awkwardly at Pince, and mumbled 'Thank you,' before running off after her.

"Alright," Alfie whispered, as soon as they were out of Pince's earshot and sight. "Who's Meezy?"

"The library elf," Ella whispered back.

"The what now?"

Ella rolled her eyes emphatically. "Honestly, Alfie."

"You can't blame me for not knowing these things! I'm a Muggleborn!"

"I didn't know there was a library elf either," Teddy remarked mildly. "I thought house elves only cooked, cleaned and did that sort of work; I didn't realise that they looked after books too."

"Some do—though there aren't many of them. Meezy's the Hogwarts library elf."

"How come I've never seen her?" Alfie exclaimed.

"Simple. You don't spend any time in the library."

"I resent that!"

"Really? When was the last time you were here?"

Alfie turned rather pink and mumbled something unintelligible.

"I'm kind of wondering the same thing, though," Teddy said. He'd certainly spent a fair amount of time in the library last term—both during and after hours—and he'd never seen a library elf. Come to think of it, he'd hardly seen any of the Hogwarts' house elves at all, even though he knew they were there, working tirelessly in the background.

"Meezy doesn't like people very much," Ella explained. "I don't really know why, but she prefers to be by herself. The only reason _I_ know her is because I ran into her at the beginning of term, when I was looking for one of the books on Slughorn's extended reading list—it wasn't on the shelves because it had been damaged, and Meezy was repairing it. That's how I met her. She's very sweet, really, but very quiet."

"And you think she might've seen something last night?"

Ella shrugged. "I don't know, but it's worth asking her, isn't it?"

Teddy supposed so—few people ever registered the presence of house elves, and if Meezy had been in the library late last night, she might have passed unnoticed. But if she had happened to be in the library on a particular night last year…

"Wait," he said, stopping in his tracks. Both Ella and Alfie turned and looked at him questioningly. "You don't suppose…well, what if Meezy saw _us_ break into the Restricted Section last year?"

"Impossible," Ella said. She resumed walking, but when both Alfie and Teddy stayed stationary, she seemed to realise that she was going to need to explain herself and stopped again. "Meezy wasn't here last year," she explained. "Her brother used to be the Hogwarts' elf, but he got promoted; he now works for the Ministry Library. So there's no way she could've seen us break in last year. We're in the clear. Now would you two _hurry up_ so that we can actually talk to her before Pince kicks us out? I have actually thought this through, you know."

Teddy had never been in the Records Room before. It was rather small and dingy, and the only light came from a tiny window that looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. Shelves were built into the walls, and were stacked with dusty tomes and large scrolls of parchment. There was a square, metal desk in the middle of the room with an open book on top of it. A tiny figure was leaning over the pages, scribbling away at top speed.

"Hello Meezy," Ella said, softly.

The little elf gave a squeak and toppled off her chair. Alfie rushed forward to help, but she'd already gotten up and brushed herself off. Teddy looked at her curiously; she was much smaller than the other house elves he'd seen, and yet her eyes were oddly large. She was wearing rags, and had a small pouch filled with pens, ink and strange tools that Teddy didn't recognise slung across her body.

"Meezy didn't see young miss," she said, in a high-pitched voice. "Or young sirs."

"Do you remember me, Meezy?" Ella asked.

"Meezy has an excellent memory, miss. You are the miss who was looking for the book Meezy was repairing. Was it useful?" Her eyes widened. "Has it fallen apart again? Did Meezy not do a good job?"

"Oh no, Meezy, you did wonderfully, the book's fine!" Ella exclaimed, a little too loudly. The elf winced, and she lowered her voice. "We just came…because…er, well, I haven't seen you in such a long time, and I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends. This is Alfie, and this is Teddy." The boys waved awkwardly at the elf. "I've told them a lot about you, and they wanted to meet you."

"Really?" Meezy sounded very pleased, and bowed to both Teddy and Alfie. "Meezy is glad to meet young sirs."

"We're glad to meet you too, Meezy," Alfie said kindly. "But please, you don't have to call me 'sir'."

Teddy saw Ella roll her eyes. Meezy stared at Alfie. "But that is what all us elveses call young sirs."

"Yeah, but—"

"We need a bit of help, Meezy," Ella cut in.

"Does Miss Ella want a book?" Meezy's face brightened. "Meezy knows where all the bookses in the library are, she does."

"No, I don't quite need a book today." Ella looked thoughtful, as if she was trying to figure out how to best broach the subject. Teddy wondered whether he should interject, but decided against it—after all, Ella knew Meezy the best. "I wanted to ask you something, actually."

Meezy hung her head. "Meezy doesn't know much. Miss Ella should ask Madame Pince."

"Oh no, we couldn't," Ella said quickly. "See, we'd rather you…er…didn't tell Madame Pince about what we're asking you about. It's…er…top secret."

At this, Meezy's eyes widened, and she began to tremble. "Miss must not ask Meezy to do anything she shouldn't! Meezy won't! Meezy won't!"

"No, no, Meezy, of course not!" Ella looked at the boys, panicked.

Teddy took this as his cue to step in. "We're not asking you to do anything illegal, Meezy. We just want to know something that we can't ask Madame Pince about."

"Meezy won't!"

Alfie knelt down so that he was at eye-level with the little elf. "Meezy," he said, in a gentle voice. "Please calm down."

"Meezy won't!"

"We're not forcing you to do anything you don't want to do. Let us just ask you our question, and if you don't want to answer, we won't make you. But this is really important to us, Meezy—and it's important to lots of other people too." He looked up nervously at Teddy and Ella, who nodded in agreement. "You see, we think that there was a boy in here last night, and we think he took a book from the Restricted Section."

Meezy was still trembling, but she'd gone very quiet. Teddy thought that this was confirmation enough that she'd seen Ralph—now if only she knew _which_ book he'd taken. But he knew better than to butt in; Alfie was doing very well with the little elf by himself.

"He used to be a student here, at Hogwarts," Alfie continued. "At least, if it was the boy that I'm thinking of—he has blonde hair, and he's very tall and he's quite muscular. You see, last year, he hurt Teddy—yes, the one over there—and he threatened us. We just want to know what book he took—we may be able to use that information to stop him from hurting someone else. And Meezy, you're the only one who can help us."

The little elf looked up at Alfie with wide eyes. "Sirs are not supposed to be in the Restricted Section after hours," she squeaked. "Madame Pince would not like it."

"No, she wouldn't," Alfie said.

"Meezy should have stopped Sir when she saw him, but Meezy was scared. Sir looked…" She shuddered, and Alfie reached out and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Meezy, go on. We understand."

"Meezy was scared, so she hid, but she could see sir going into the Section and when he came out, he was holding a thick book."

"What book was it?"

"Meezy could not see the title, but Meezy had cleaned the book on Thursday and recognised it. It was a book called _Rise and Demise_."

Alfie looked at Ella, who shook her head. Teddy had never heard of the book either.

"Do you know what was in the book, Meezy?"

Meezy hung her head. "Meezy isn't supposed to read the library books when she is cleaning, but Meezy cannot help herself sometimes. It contains the names and fates of all of those who fought in the First and Second Wizarding Wars."

Teddy listened to the elf with confusion. He'd been expecting a book full of dark spells, a book full of forbidden sorcery and power that Ralph could harness to unleash terror. But a book about the fates of those who fought in the wars? What use could a book like that possibly be to him?"

"Young sirs and miss won't tell Madame Pince about what Meezy saw?"

"No," Alfie said. "Of course not. Thank you so much, Meezy, you've been a great help."

.oOo.

Teddy had wanted to discuss what they'd found out with Alfie and Ella immediately, but Ella had an appointment with Professor Ellacott to go over some things that she'd had trouble with in the extra homework she'd been assigned and Alfie seemed in a strange rush to get back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. He practically dragged Teddy across the castle grounds and down into the basement, tapping the Hufflepuff barrels with such enthusiasm that he got the rhythm wrong several times.

The Common Room was unusually crowded, and Teddy only realised what was going on when he caught sight of Macey Longstone standing at the front, a yellow envelope in her hand. _The Quidditch team_. How could he have forgotten?

He and Alfie sat near the back of the room. Alfie's face had turned a bright red, and he was shaking with anticipation and nervousness. Teddy's heart went out to him; he really, really hoped that Alfie got on the team. He knew how much he wanted it.

Macey cleared her throat. "Um, well, I think everyone's here now." She beamed at the crowds. "Welcome, Hufflepuffs! I'm Macey, your Quidditch captain for this year."

There was a smattering of applause and a couple of whoops; Macey waited for it to die down before continuing.

"Thank you to everyone who showed up to tryouts. There was a lot of talent out there on the pitch, and it was really, really difficult for me to pick this year's team. But I'm confident that the players I've chosen to represent Hufflepuff will do us all proud. So without further delay…if I call your name, please come to the front." She grinned and flicked the envelope open. Alfie made a choking sound.

"This year's Chasers will be…Lydia Brennan, fifth-year, returning team member! Mitchell Jones, sixth-year, returning team member! Alfie Hayes, second-year, new team member!"

A collective gasp rose up in the Common Room. Several second-years swivelled their heads around and gawked at Alfie, along with some of the older students who Teddy had seen at the tryouts. It was almost as if they couldn't believe that a second-year had made the team, and Teddy supposed he didn't blame them. After all, there hadn't been any second-years on the team last year, nor had there been any at the tryouts.

Alfie himself looked as if he was about to faint. "Why is everyone staring at me?" he mumbled.

"Because you made the team!" Teddy said excitedly. "You did it, Alfie!"

"I did it," he repeated weakly. As it sunk in, his face slowly broke out into a wide smile. "I did it!"

"Yes you did! Now go!" Teddy pushed him lightly towards the front. He stumbled slightly, but regained his balance quickly and walked meekly over to where Macey was standing with the other Chasers. Matilda Goshawk began to clap, and the whole house soon joined in.

"Yes, congratulations to our Chasers!" Macey beamed. "A special congratulations must go out to Alfie Hayes—he's our youngest Chaser in a long time, about fifty or so years, I think. One for the record books."

The clapping got even louder, and several people let out loud whoops. Teddy felt a surge of pride rush through him—his best friend, the youngest Chaser in half a century! Imagine that!

And yet as he watched Alfie turn bright red and duck his head, he couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous. Last year, it had been Teddy who'd gotten all the attention for his Metamorphmagus skills, but now, he was old news. What if Alfie suddenly became much more popular than he was? What if he moved away, made new friends? It was something Teddy didn't want to think about, something he knew he shouldn't worry about—after all, he knew Alfie well enough to know that he wasn't shallow—but he couldn't get the nagging thoughts out of his mind.

"You're being an idiot," he mumbled to himself under his breath, before mustering up the largest smile he could and yelling "Go Alfie!" at the top of his voice.

"Yes, well done, Alfie, I'm certainly looking forward to having you on the team." Macey cleared her throat and looked down at the paper in her hands. "Let's continue! Our Beaters will be…Lucas Mills, fourth-year, returning team member! And of course, myself—Macey Longstone, seventh-year, returning team member!"

"And CAPTAIN!" Pierce Radley, Macey's boyfriend, exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Yes, and Captain." Macey rolled her eyes fondly at Pierce and several Hufflepuffs giggled. "Our Keeper will be Faye Keys, sixth-year, returning team member. And finally, our Seeker."

The entire Common Room had gone very silent. Macey glanced around uncomfortably at everyone's solemn faces. Teddy noticed Laura Shipkins and Bella Watson sitting at opposite ends of the room; Laura appeared rather confident, although she kept shooting a very nervous-looking Bella dirty glares.

"We had, er, some mishaps last year that prevented us taking the Cup," Macey said. "But that will not occur again. Our Seeker for this year is…Bella Watson."

Before anyone else had a chance to react, Laura Shipkins had jumped up from her seat and yelled, "WHAT?"

Macey seemed to have expected this. "Laura, please, calm down."

"She _lost_ the game for us last year, Macey! She lost the cup! It's not as if you didn't have any other choice—I can't _believe_ you'd choose _her_ again! Don't you learn from your mistakes?"

"Hey!" Pierce exclaimed.

"I can handle this," Macey told him, before turning back to Laura. "Look, Laura, I understand that you're upset—"

"You're damn right I'm upset, and I'm sure several other members of this house are too."

"Yeah!" Daisy Shipkins shouted. To Teddy's disappointment, several sixth-years, and even a couple of fourth and seventh-years nodded along.

"Bella Watson made a terrible mistake last year," Laura continued. "And because of that, she doesn't deserve to be let back on the team."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Laura!" Macey exclaimed. "Even I do—does no one here remember when I accidentally hit our old Captain in the back with a bat and knocked him off his broom? We lost the match, he was in the Hospital Wing for weeks after that, and yet he still let me back on the team, because he knew I was a good player. It's the same thing here. Bella made a mistake, but I know that she's good—she caught the Snitch in every other match, she knows what she's doing. And yes, Laura, to be quite frank, she's better than you are."

There was a collective intake of breath. Laura was shaking with anger. "You…you...you know what? You're biased, that's what you are. Bella's your friend, and you've never liked me, and that's why she's on the team, and I'm not. So here's what I'll do—if you don't win your first match, I'll take you to Macmillan, and I'll tell him that you're being partial. We'll go through tryouts again, and _he'll_ choose the new team. Then we'll see who the better player is."

With that, she turned and stormed off to her room. Slowly, others joined her in walking out, until only half the House was left in the Common Room; Teddy was disappointed to see that out of the second-years, only he, Archie Quintin, Jonathan Trigg and Matilda Goshawk had stayed.

Macey looked as if she was fuming inside, but somehow was managing to stay calm. "Bella, could you please come to the front of the room?" she said placidly, before continuing without any of her usual enthusiasm. "Well, here's our Quidditch team folks. Go Hufflepuff."

"Go Hufflepuff," the remaining members of the house said gloomily. Teddy glanced at Alfie, who met his eye. His excitement and embarrassment at being named Chaser had all but vanished and was replaced by sentiments of trepidation and fear clearly written across his face. Talk about pressure.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT NOTE (17th March)** I've decided that it isn't really fair on you guys to have to wait so long between updates. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about my schedule; attending one of the top unis in the world necessitates a focus on work before everything else. So, I've decided that I'm going to put a hiatus on _posting_ Skeletons.

That doesn't mean that _Skeletons_ is going on a hiatus. It just means that I'm going to wait until I've got at least ten chapters (if not the whole book!) written before I start posting. That way, you'll get the story in more regular installments. You can keep track of my progress on my blog (I'm **sincerelynymph** on tumblr).


	8. ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi guys! Nymphie here – I'm back with some exciting news.

So over the last few months, I've had time to think and have decided that I don't really know where I'm going with the Escapades series. I have no coherent direction and I feel as if the story that is currently being written doesn't do justice to the characters I have created and my original vision for the story. Therefore, _Skeletons_ has now been discontinued.

BUT DO NOT DESPAIR for Teddy, Ella, Alfie, Victoire, Riley, Daisy Shipkins, the Goshawk twins, Terence etc. etc. aren't going anywhere. In fact, they're all coming back in a brand new story, entitled _The Lost Children_ that begins in Teddy's fifth year. I'm massively excited about it – I've written the first five chapters already and am working on the sixth (along with bri-anna, my lovely beta reader!). It revolves about our trio's lives at Hogwarts as they navigate friendship, growing up and an emerging dark force in the wizarding world that is moving into the public sphere after the highly-publicised kidnapping of a muggleborn. It's independent of _Escapades_ and follows a different plotline – you do not need to have read the Escapades series to have read it!

If you have any questions about unresolved plots in Skeletons, please feel free to message me here, or on my tumblr, sincerelynymph, and I will do my best to answer them – provided, of course, that the plot hasn't been transferred to _The Lost Children_.

The prologue of _The Lost Children_ will be up THIS SUNDAY, the 12th of June, at 8PM GMT. Until then, here are extracts from the first couple of chapters to tide you over:

Extract #1:

"Mm, I hope so," Daisy said, although she looked as if she couldn't care less. "At least there's a _possibility_ of a happy ending there. There's none for me, you know. I tried to get my mum to write to McGonagall like she did when _that slag Bella Watson_ got Prefect over my sister, but she refuses to because apparently it'll be of no avail. God knows _why_ she chose Matilda! Matilda _Goshawk,_ of all people." She sniffed, and Teddy rolled his eyes- how was it even _possible_ to be so self-centred? "It's probably just because she's a Goshawk, you know. Her good-for-nothing twin's a Prefect too."

"Oh, Michael's a Prefect?" Teddy said, interested. "I didn't know that." Michael Goshawk was Matilda's Slytherin brother—he and Teddy were fairly good friends, although Michael preferred to hang around with Terence Gates. And Terence Gates and Teddy were most certainly _not_ good friends—they were whatever the opposite of good friends were.

But more on that later.

"Yes, he is. I suppose it's to be expected, I mean, he's the only Slytherin who most people actually know- except Wallace Stimpson, of course, but that's only because he snogged Becca Dillion while he was still dating Morna Clemmons. The nerve, can you _believe_? Morna's so cute, why a boy would cheat on her, I don't understand. But anyway, back to the point."

Teddy was tempted to ask whether Daisy even had a point.

"Matilda," she said again. "Matilda _bloody_ Goshawk, a _bloody_ Prefect. God, I hate that girl."

"I thought you and Matilda were friends, though," Alfie said, puzzled. "I don't understand why you're so angry."

"Friends?"

"Yes, friends."

"Why would we be friends?"

"You share a dormitory," Teddy pointed out. "You've hung out together since first year, you sit together in classes and at lunch, you've visited each other during the holidays, she helped you when you almost failed Astronomy-"

"- We don't speak of that."

"Sorry. But that's not the point."

"What's the point?" Daisy asked innocently.

Teddy sighed dramatically. "The point, Daisy, is that you and Matilda are friends, and friends are happy for one another."

At this, Daisy gave a furious snort. "Ha! If we were friends, she'd have _known_ how much I wanted to be a Prefect, and she'd have given it up. Fancy her telling _me_ that I should be happy for her. As _if_."

She downed the last of her water, and declared, "I'm going to get some more. Just thinking about it makes me mad."

As she stormed away, the trio watched her wordlessly.

"You know," Teddy said, dryly. "For someone who claims to be popular, Daisy certainly has some funny ideas about friendship."

The other two nodded in silent agreement.

Extract #2:

There was a low light emanating from the drawing room, and as Victoire descended the first few steps, she heard voices, and froze.

"... but surely zis ees normal- zey are, after all, ze Ministry of Magic."

Victoire rolled her eyes; this was, unmistakably, her mother.

" _Oui_ , but ze letters zey have received over ze last few days are different… zey think zey have something to do with _her_."

This, Victoire recognised as being her Aunt Gabrielle. Her heart lifted- she had thought she would only see her briefly the next morning before they left - and she began to descend again, but froze when the adults - consisting of her mother, her father and her aunt - came into view.

There was something about the way they were positioned - close together, forming a tight circle- the way they were speaking in hushed tones that told Victoire that she should not be listening- not that it truly mattered to her. She tip-toed back up to the landing and pressed herself against the wall, allowing the darkness to envelope her as she listened.

"...these threats, you say they mention the girl specifically?" Bill Weasley asked.

 _What girl?_ Victoire thought.

"I do not know for sure- ze British Ministry are being very… what ees the word...secretive about ze whole thing. It ees clear that they do not want this getting out. But I have my contacts in your Ministry, and zey tell me zat these letters… they mention things zat could only be about ze girl."

"And there's no way to trace the letters?"

"None. Ze Aurors have tried."

There was silence for a few moments; Victoire attempted to use it to make sense of what was going on, but could not- what girl? Why were the Aurors involved with this girl? What was going on in Britain that the adults clearly knew about? She felt a stab of betrayal- she expected such withholding of information from her parents, of course, but her _aunt_? Never.

Gabrielle Delacour was one of the rare adults who hadn't forgotten what it was like to be a child. Victoire had always felt like she could trust her aunt. She could tell Gabrielle anything, and although she may be disapproving, she would never tell anyone else. She was always so completely honest with Victoire- she never treated her like a child, incapable of understanding the complexity and the dynamics of the world, even if Victoire _hadn't_ been able to understand.

It didn't feel good to know that perhaps she hadn't shared absolutely _everything_ with her.

Victoire's mother broke the silence (and Victoire's train of thought): "Surely, ze Aurors have _some_ ideas about where zis girl ees. After all, zey are ze best of ze best."

"Zere's no trace of her. Zey still don't have anything and zat's just the problem- a person, they cannot just _disappear_."

Bill cleared his throat. "It's not possible that...well … that she's- "

"I hope not."

Fleur again: "Do zey at least have some sort of idea about why ze girl was taken?"

Silence. "Zey do, but no one wants to believe it."

Hope you enjoyed those little snippets! See you on Sunday the 12th, at 8PM GMT (:


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